Remember when...

iamstop

Remember when some people would have a mode on their digital watches that would chime every hour? Just like two beeps or whatever. That's gone now. You never hear hourly chimes from people these days.

Bobblehats

I heard a blip. That’s all I recall

iamstop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099204#Comment_120099204

It's already too late...

Bobblehats

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099240#Comment_120099240

That bastard Soundwave blew my hearing out

Strumms

every single person catching a flight at the airport, had to check in, at a check in desk. No app, no website, nothing, no way of self producing boarding passes.

you were always delayed by some gobshîtes that seemed to enjoy regaling the checkin agent with some series of anecdotes or general ‘chat’ , followed by 135 questions about the flight ….oblivious to the growing Q of 135+ people behind them, or if they weren’t oblivious, just didn’t care…

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058279357/remember-when

Would you believe ive a beep set on my gshock watches,

Likely down to the fact everyone/ a large number of people relie on their phones or smart watches for time ,

Kids these days can't tell the time on a real analog watch

gameoverdude

Remember when there was conductors on buses and you could only smoke up stairs(actually used to happen a lot after that until the luas was implemented).

Larbre34

Now the scrotes smoke upstairs on double-decker buses AND on the Luas.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099481#Comment_120099481

There's apps for it now:

Android:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.caynax.hourlychime&hl=en_IE&gl=US&pli=1

Apple:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/hourly-chime-hourly-reminder/id1547379117

But no-one uses them. And rightly so.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099514#Comment_120099514

Actually I've rarely seen anyone smoke on the bus for quite a while.

iamstop

Back in my day this was all fields!

I grew up in Old Bawn, Tallaght. Before the Square, it literally was all fields. No hotels, no hospital, no apartments. Just fields.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099637#Comment_120099637

Not far down the road from you. Same.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099481#Comment_120099481

Oh god you’re one of those

I remember when we all looked forward to advancing technology rather than complaining about people using it.

Gone are the days..

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099481#Comment_120099481

Oh for an analogue world. Writing letters, only having a wristwatch to tell the time, no such thing as social media, phonecalls instead of texts, and people talking to each other.

Wibbs

I remember a bloke in school that used to have his watch beep every hour. Sound lad, odd as two left feet(always a plus point), but the beep got old really quickly. If you save up lotsa money you can even buy a purely mechanical watch that chimes the hours and minutes at the touch of a button.

https://youtu.be/TZySPlAAtSA?t=39

And I do mean lotsa money. There's likely a Casio that can do similar with leccy beeps for 20 quid, and you could kick it up and down the road and it would keep working, so there's that.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099664#Comment_120099664

It's an interesting one. There's been a trend in the last ten years or so for people(almost always men) to buy expensive "old fashioned" mechanical watches. Now on top of the social contagion/"investment"/male jewellery stuff I suspect part of the trend is not unlike in the late 19th century when industrialisation and The Future(tm) felt a little overwhelming for some/many and there was a trend then to look to more "natural" forms and tastes like the Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau* movements in design. Stuff that was hard to make by machine. Maybe some feel our always connected and always on society needs some of that and why you get trends like mechanical watches and hipsters paying mad money for 80 year old Levis and the like?

Though I do know a couple of guys who wear a mechanical "luxury" watch and a fitbit/apple watch on their other wrist. One is basically jewellry, and that's fine too. I couldn't do that two wrist thing. I've always worn a watch and an analogue watch since I was a kid, but for initially different reasons. Digitals were all the rage when I were a lad and I lusted after them with all their cool functions, but for some reason I find digital time requires my third braincell to kick in to read. Like an extra step. Just wired wrong I suppose. So I bought "old watches" before they were "vintage collectables" for that reason. And they were a lot cheaper than even the nice digitals I couldn't afford. Pocketmoney.

Then the collecting bug hit. The fascinating to me anyway historical/tech aspect to them and that you can wear that today and is still useful. Even right now on my laptop I wouldn't look to the menubar, but at my wrist if I want the time. It's just there and quicker for me.

Me. Being a hipster. As we speak. 😁

*even though it was also seen as Moderne..

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100502#Comment_120100502

I don't wear watches, but I like.

Not as cool as my calculator watch but you might as well get your coat.

Ps. My arms are hairier.

One eyed Jack

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058279357/remember-when

I was one of those absolute nerds who used wear one of these beauties -

Used crack myself up standing in line in the bank and they’d the AERTEL markets index page showing on a tv, I’d switch up and down the volume, change channels, just being an arse basically 😂

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099481#Comment_120099481

They don’t need to, my own young lad has never worn a watch, like you say they can just look at the phone. He does love the whole idea of making stuff though and tinkering with retro tech, like he got a 3D printer recently and I was reminded of how I used to make lead soldiers out of moulds, like this -

The underlying principles are still the same for most of the stuff people still use today, just that the technology has changed is all. I can remember watching shows like Knight Rider and Six Million Dollar Man thinking how cool would that be if it was actually possible! 😳

Analogue shhmanalogue.

iamstop

Be Kind, Please Rewind.

Actually leaving the house to scour rows and rows of video cassette boxes. Take the one you want to the counter. The clerk will go to the back vault and find the corresponding tape via a numbering system. Bring back the tape, log it into the computer and charge you based on how new the film was. Some newer vids were for one night, some older ones were for two nights. Bring them back late and you'd get a late fee. Too much late fee and your account would be locked until you paid it off.

Source: Worked at Xtravision for a year or so.

Bogwoppit

White dog poo

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100719#Comment_120100719

I was only showing my eldest(14) one of them recently when she was asking for the lastest apple watches ,

I like technical advances especially 3d printing it opens up the world of technical design to anyone, and model making,

But as I've gotten Older I'm finding I'm getting drawn to the astetics and art of proper macanical watches,

I do enjoy Digital too I've been through everything from pager watches similar to the Casio you posted and later Gshocks which have terrible tiny lcd digital elements which are next to impossible to read unless in perfect conditions,

Showing kids today phones that weren't always the same rectangle 6in screens they and we all enjoy now

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100859#Comment_120100859

Vhs or betamax?

iamstop

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100916#Comment_120100916

VHS but I was there when DVDs were burgeoning.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120100926#Comment_120100926

Youngster.

gameoverdude

I remember the first time getting a CD as a present. Only one problem...

StupidLikeAFox

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120099467#Comment_120099467

Yeah, and your local travel agent would give you a book of tickets like a chequebook for the outgoing and return journey the week before your flight

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058279357/remember-when

My uncle's Apple Watch (possibly Series 7) dings every hour

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101156#Comment_120101156

Series 7. Old school.

Deja Boo

Remember when .... you could only use the phone as far as the cord would reach?

Gatling

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120101173#Comment_120101173

Spiny dialing.

o1s1n

Remember when it cost 10p to send a text message on a mobile phone? I used to absolutely blitz through credit texting mates.

Or when T9 predictive text first came out and you didn't have to press numbers multiple times to get the letter you wanted.

It's actually amazing how fast people get at typing on different devices, I used to be incredible fast on my phone in the pre predictive text days. Actually continued to text like that for years after T9 came along.

Deja Boo

lol o1s1n, Grandeeod turned me on to predictive text only like 2 years ago when I was forced off my trusty flip phone (kicking and screaming) into the new tech era... "DB, look it tells you what to say, you don't have to try to type out every letter" (or even punch the same number 3 times to get to the right letter, like on my old trusted nokia)... I had no idea! Thank you @Grandeeod, you were very, very helpful!

iamstop

Are Chipper vans still a thing? There used to be a Chinese Takeaway van that would park around the way from where I went to scouts. Used to get a 3 in one every few weeks.

John_Rambo

Supercans.

French Toast

When cereals had toys in them.

When there was no on-demand streaming.

When we didn't talk about global warming.

When Facebook was the go-to social media.

Deregos.

I once remember recalling, looking back into the past and wistfully reminiscing about nostalgia.

gameoverdude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120106135#Comment_120106135

Like the good auld days?

hoodie6029

25p bottles of red lemonade or undrinkable orange or cola. Penny sweet or 10 penny bags.

When Chunky Choc was the king of ice-creams (before magnum or romantica came along)

Getting a certain number on your Mr Freeze and running back in for a free one

Play room in Superquinn. The fact there was a national supermarket chain called Crazy Prices.

The absolute stink and smoke coming out of cars before catalytic converters or the NCT.

Nothing open on a Sunday.

Potential-Monke

Nothing open for a week over Christmas, leading to mass fuel purchasing the days before Xmas day!

Mister Vain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120104955#Comment_120104955

When cereals had toys in them

That takes me back. I used to love these.

NIMAN

This thread will be stolen to provide 'content' for many TodayFM radio shows.

hoodie6029

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120112086#Comment_120112086

Remember when 90% of Gerry Ryan’s show was just the rehashing of articles from the Sunday papers?

Andrea B.

The social unrest when Tayto went from 2 1/2p to 3p.

iamstop

The song would start to slow down as your Walkman batteries were dying.

FGR

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120115629#Comment_120115629

Oh, honey, honey..

You are my ....can.....dy g...........irl

Graces7

Remember when only one person in the road had a phone and you dared not ask them. And it was nearly half a mile to the nearest pnone box... which stank and was filthy and often out of orderr of order due to vandalism... ah THOSE were the days!

Dramatik

Renting a VHS player for the day on a family members birthday to watch a film

TV didn't have a remote so you would have to click in a button on the front of the TV to select a channel.

Watching something on sky sports in the tiny box view on the multi-channel, with the audio playing from a tv in a separate room on the scrambled channel because you didn't have sky sports.

Cutting a rectangle out of a cereal box, folding it in half and attaching to one of the forks of your bike with a clothes peg to turn your peddle bike into a motorbike.

Balding your bike tires from doing too many skids.

Parents would have to leave all the doors on the car open on a hot summers day for at least 15 minutes before you went anywhere, in fear that you might get 3rd degree burns from the molten hot leather seats.

Being consoled by your best friend after you fell playing army and snapped off either the barrel or stock of your favourite plastic gun.

iamstop

Jumpers for goalposts.

Not sure if already said but can always remember it was completely forbidden to use the internet between peak times cos the price for dial up at that time was atrocious and even worse during peak time.

Just mad to remember times (not even that long ago really) when you had to be seriously thoughtful about whether or not you dared to download something or make a phone call.

Remembering then when “high speed” broadband and Data connections became more common you paid more a month to have a higher download. And if you had unlimited download well just look at you.

Thats assuming you COULD get broadband since it took yonks for access to become semi common 😅

The good old days where you had €5 a week max for phone credit and you’d have to decide what was more important— sending a few dozen texts to your mates before you had none left or ring someone and get mere minutes of social interaction that week.

Being in a debt spiral when you’d use Vodafone’s IOU so you’re always owing €2 at the next top up but therefore always getting IOU’s. (As a teenager so I wasn’t loaded)

Ah then the top up deals came along. You’d be raging if your mates weren’t on the same network as you, cos the deals got you free calls and texts 087 to 087 etc only haha.

And going to the shop and asking for “€X 08X” cos your prefix was your network and you scarcely changed your network of course. #VodafoneForLyfe. 😂 or in my case being made stick with Vodafone cos me nanny would have to pay to ring me otherwise. 😂

I’m not that old not that young so I was growing up throughout this crazy shift in technology— I personally don’t get nostalgic for old records and VHS but then I’ll always remember using them fondly. I guess I was in the time when shifting to the “newer” tech was accelerating but at the same time it was prohibitively expensive for those on lower incomes/middle incomes.

I was about 8-9 before we ever got a DVD player. I remember a magazine came with like a scooby doo DVD or some shite with a single episode or whatever. Not sure the reasons why but irrelevant— anyway, we had no DVD player as I said. So I can remember trying to use the CD player, not exactly sure what I was expecting but anyway, of course it didn’t work.

Fast forward to the DVD player arriving, I believe it was supposedly a gift for the mother for her bday, my guess the aul fella just wanted an excuse to buy a home cinema. 😂 But I realised that DVD’s are like CD’s but with video. It was amazing honestly. Right there and then I really think it’s where my love of technology was born.

I used to take apart cameras and video players etc just to see what was inside and understand, to some degree I was a child, how things operate. How technology functions, I guess.

Always would prefer to go to shops that had silly gimmicks in them like touch screen coffee machines and the likes, now they’re everywhere of course but I can remember when it was a fairly emerging technology— the screens used to be behind like a rubbery plastic sheet and it was almost like pressing a button in the screen. Hard to explain how it felt but they were so shite compared to your smartphone screen say.

I do remember my first touchscreen phone as well. A white Samsung Tocco Lite. Mowed me uncles lawn for 6 months every week to make €120 for it. €5 a week every week for 6. Months. It was awful but I wanted that damn phone so bad. Worth every penny and every minute.

Also got me €20 a month for credit so it was handy. Feel like it kept me level as well like regularly wee bit of work. I say lawns, but me uncles loaded so he had big fcuk off lawns. Acres worth so it was a few hours work like on a ride on mower. Thing is the fecking thing had a mulcher so it didn’t use grass box. But that meant the grass it spat back out would stick to the wheels, meaning when you drive it back up the driveway the grass stuck to the tarmac..

So every evening I’d finish I had to sweep about a kilometre of grass. On two sides of course. And no I’m not joking it was that big of a driveway. Ludicrous, definitely didn’t get paid enough now that I think about it but anyway.

So yeah I love tech. All of it but not really some of its pure shite. But it’s always been nice to think back and look at where we are now. Really it’s not even that technology is advancing insofar as “new tech” we’ve really just super refined the same technology we’ve had for yonks.

Touch screens, computers, the internet, it’s all been around for decades, but we just made them so much better. Honestly I feel bad for people who can’t embrace this world. It has gone to make so many things so much better.

Jesus that’s a lot of words

iamstop

Phonebook came once a year.

You had to flip through a book to find the number of someone you wanted to call. Most people kept lists of friends, family, the doctor and other commonly called numbers near the homes only phone that was usually in the hall or sitting room.

I remember seeing the ridiculously long phone cord that Rosanne had on her show and thinking it was amazing! With it you could walk around and still be on the phone!

sprucemoose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120120187#Comment_120120187

small boys in the park, rush goalie, two at the back three in the middle four up front, one's gone home for his tea. Beans on toast? Possibly, don't quote me on that. Marvellous.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120109229#Comment_120109229

the canadian equivalent of crazy prices (owned by the same family) is called No Frills, dunno which is worse