This thread makes me think a good prompt for all the 38 year olds here:
Try to explain how a piece of technology worked when you were a kid. What using a VCR meant, the process of booting up your first computer, looking up a library book, etc.
How did you do normal things before Computer?
Cameras used to require that you set the exposure correctly for light levels.
You would use a light meter, point it at what you wanted to take a picture of, and it'd tell you what settings, aperture and shutter speed to use.
You’ve got me thinking about… the wall phone in the kitchen. Telephone books (a bit horrifying to think that our phone number & ADDRESS were in there). Libraries with card catalogs. Microfilm & microfiche. You missed a TV show? You wait til summer for a rerun. Four channels, five if you were lucky.
YES!! And for a long I did it on this cruddy little Panasonic mono tape recorder with the big buttons that I got for my 13th birthday. I didn’t get a proper stereo cassette deck until I was in college.