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
…God, it is so weird these things aren’t around any more. Cause it’s true, the sensations are so distinct. It’s bizarre to think about missing these tiny relics.
okay but what about
- pushing and pulling on the pins to lock the car door
- sticking a pencil in a cassette to go back to a certain song
- touching a freshly burnt CD that was still warm
- prying out the mini booklet with song lyrics of your favorite CD
- the faint clicks of buttons on a cassette/CD player that actually popped up if you pressed another one
- holding negatives of photos against the light to see which ones you are looking at
- And my personal favorite: malleable erasers.
The plastic and ink and paper smell of new cassette inserts.
The click and give when you pressed play on the cassette player.
The satisfying click-whirr of a rotary phone dial sliding back.
Blowing on a video game cartridge and hearing the whistle of air over plastic and metal.
The tap and rat-tat-tat of a typewriter key.
The annoying, indescribable sound of AOL using the modem to connect to the internet… Which lasted between 30 seconds and 10 minutes depending on how far away you lived from the nearest telephone poles.