technology related sensory memories from my childhood
- sliding the metal cover on floppy disks
- the slight resistance of inserting cassette and video tapes
- ripping off the strips of holed paper off of dot matrix printer paper
- rolling the wheel on a disposable camera to take another photo
The heaviness and rubber texture of the roller ball in a computer mouse, and the little ring of lint
Unkinking the curly cord of a telephone while you talked
The -peww sound and slowly fading image of a crt monitor turning off, and then running your finger through the static on the dusty glass
The crunch of opening or closing a plastic Disney vhs cover
The sound effects in kidpix
Extending and collapsing metal antennas and using them as magic wands
- The little ridges of a cassette tape’s cogs pressing into your fingertip as you wound the tape back in
- Curling the rotary dial of the telephone round to each number and letting go
- The rainbow glare of free AOL CDs catching the morning light in the pile of post
- Manually tuning the car radio with a notched dial and the mess of static, broken voices, and fragments of songs
- The click of a Gameboy’s on/off switch
- The sound of a CD skipping in your walkman when you moved too fast
The tick and loud clunk of a book being pushed over the slanted buttons of the imaging machine at the public library when you borrowed it
- The heavy sound of a credit card swiper at a shop till shifting back and forth
- Putting in a video game cartridge, the firm press to get it in properly
- The rounded square of light from the overhead projector shifting in front of you as the teacher adjusted its height
- The resistant jelly buttons of late 90s/early 00s mobile phones
- The push of a joystick against your hand when you held it in one direction
- The soft clack of a flip phone snapping open
- Pressing in the deep-set power buttons until you felt them give and click
- The whirr of a VHS tape rewinding
the low hum of a crt television that you felt more than heard