Forgotten Home Gadgets From the ’60s That Would Confuse Kids These Days

Polaroid Instant Cameras

Revolutionary cameras that printed photos immediately, but each picture cost a dollar, and you couldn't delete mistakes or retake shots. Blurry photo? Tough luck. Blinked? That's money down the drain. Things that seem completely foreign in an age of unlimited digital storage and endless retakes.

Speaking of boredom and Polaroid cameras…

Dot Matrix Printers

Loud, grinding machines that printed letters by hammering tiny pins through ribbons onto paper, creating a distinctive "BZZZZT-BZZZZT-BZZZZT" symphony that could wake up the dead. The paper came out with holes punched along the sides, requiring careful tearing that inevitably went crooked at the worst possible moment.

Portable Record Players

Calling these record players “portable” would be confusing for this generation. Even more confusing would be the fact that you couldn't skip songs, shuffle playlists, or even move the player while it was running without the needle jumping.

Lava Lamps

The original screensaver, except it took longer to boot up than Windows Vista. Lava lamps were essentially glass containers filled with colored wax that slowly bubbled up and down when heated by a light bulb. They served no practical purpose whatsoever, but hey, they were fun to look at.

Film Cameras

Photography was serious business back then. You had exactly 24 or 36 chances to not screw up before driving to the photo lab, dropping off your film, and then waiting 3-7 business days to discover whether your vacation photos were masterpieces or abstract art.

Tube Televisions

Massive, furniture-sized television sets with cathode ray tubes that weighed hundreds of pounds and displayed fuzzy images. Also, you could physically warm your hands on the back during the wintertime. Try doing that with your flat screen.

Transistor Radios

Pocket-sized radios that could only receive AM/FM broadcasts and required constant antenna adjustments. Finding the perfect position for clear reception was a task in itself, and discovering a new song through the static felt like a monumental discovery.

Party-Line Telephones

Shared telephone lines where multiple families could listen to each other's conversations. Sounds weird? That’s because it was. Privacy was nonexistent, signals were constantly busy during peak hours, and making a call meant hoping nobody else was using the line.

Privacy was a luxury back then, but so was entertainment…

Console Record Players

Enormous wooden furniture pieces that housed record players, radio receivers, and speaker systems all in one massive unit. You’d lift the heavy lid, select your album, place it reverently on the turntable, and then lower the needle with surgical precision.

Slide Projectors

Family photo sharing was a theatrical production back in the '60s, and slide projectors were the perfect tool. These were bulky machines that projected individual photographs onto screens or walls using carousel trays that held dozens of slides.

Rabbit-Ear Antennas

V-shaped metal antennas that required constant adjustment to receive television signals from broadcast towers. Someone always had to hold them in position during important shows, and some families even designated an official "antenna holder" for important TV events!

Cassette Tapes

Music was a linear journey back then. There was no skipping, and rewinding and fast-forwarding were tedious processes. The worst was when the tapes would get "eaten" by the player, leaving you with yards of magnetic spaghetti to untangle.

Sounds tedious? Wait till you hear how phones worked back then…

Reel-To-Reel Tape Recorders

Professional-quality audio recording machines with exposed tape spools that required manual threading and constant monitoring during operation. Sounds like a lot of work? It was. Recording sessions demanded careful planning, and editing involved physically cutting and splicing tape pieces together.

8-Track Tape Players

Possibly the most sadistic music format ever invented. These car-stereo tape players played continuous-loop tapes divided into four programs, but songs often faded out mid-verse when tracks switched automatically. No rewinding capability existed, and you had to wait for the entire loop to cycle through for specific songs.

Did you know we had 3D back in the '60s?

View-Master Stereo Viewers

The original virtual reality was clicking through seven 3D postcards and calling it a vacation. The 3D effect was legitimately impressive, but the content limitation was brutal. Today’s VR technology, however, makes these seem like primitive toys from ancient civilizations.

Super 8 Film Cameras

‘60s film cameras truly taught us the value of things. Super 8 film cameras required expensive film cartridges, precise lighting conditions, and careful shot planning since film couldn't be wasted on mistakes. Every shot cost money. Literally.

Rotary Phones

Dialing a phone number was a finger workout back in the day. Dialing "0" meant committing to a full revolution of the dial and watching it slowly return to its original position. And if you got one number wrong? Start over, friend.

Home Movie Projectors

Screening a home movie back in the day was an entire mission. Someone had to thread the film, focus the lens, and pray nothing jammed while 20 relatives waited eagerly in the dark. And just when you thought you’d gotten it right, the projector would overheat, or the film would break.

Think selfies are easy? Back then, even taking a flash photo was a complicated process...

Flashcubes for Cameras

The original one-time-use accessories. Flashcubes were disposable cubes containing four individual flashbulbs providing single-use illumination for indoor photography. Each bulb would burn out after one flash, and photographers had to carry extras constantly.

Overhead Projectors

The medieval manuscripts of business presentations; overhead projectors projected transparent sheets onto screens using mirrors and bright bulbs. Everything had to be hand-drawn, written, or typed on clear plastic sheets using special markers.

Mechanical Typewriters

Manual writing machines that required physical force to strike keys and eventually created an almost musical rhythm. It had no backspace function, required carbon paper for copies, and one wrong letter could sabotage an entire page. The pressure was real.

Today’s smart appliances have nothing on the quirky kitchen contraptions of the ’60s…

Electric Can Openers

The kitchen gadget that solved a problem nobody knew they had. These countertop behemoths took up precious space just to accomplish what a handheld opener did perfectly well. They broke constantly, were impossible to clean properly, and left metal shavings in your soup more often than anyone admitted.

Electric Carving Knives

Believe it or not, holiday dinners in the old days required power tools, and these carving knives offered the perfect solution. They were specifically designed for slicing holiday turkeys and roasts, with dual serrated blades that moved back and forth rapidly. Fancy.

Fondue Sets

Fondue sets turned dinner into a social event in the ‘60s. Whether it was cheese, chocolate, or sizzling oil, everyone gathered around one bubbling pot with long forks in hand. The entire process was slow, messy, and required constant monitoring. And yes, double-dipping was totally normal.

Did we mention how boomers thought jiggling belts could melt fat?

Pixabay

Easy-Bake Ovens

The ultimate children’s cooking experience in the ‘60s; these "ovens" used light bulbs to barely heat cake mixes, mostly resulting in something that looked like an inedible hockey puck. The process took forever, and the portions were tiny, rarely resulting in something you could call a success.

Wait until you see what passed for kids’ entertainment back in the ’60s…

Lite-Brite

Lite-Brite was an art toy featuring black paper templates and colored plastic pegs that created illuminated pictures when backlit by internal bulbs. Of course, like everything in the ‘60s, these required constantly purchasing expensive refill kits for new projects.

Clackers

Clackers seem like a toy designed by someone who clearly never met an actual child. It consisted of two acrylic balls connected by a string that created loud clicking sounds when swung properly. Understandably, it was eventually banned by the US government.

Etch A Sketch

The Etch A Sketch was truly revolutionary for its time. Two knobs controlled horizontal and vertical lines, which created temporary masterpieces. One wrong move meant starting over completely, but the joy of creating something even remotely recognizable was unmatched.

Mechanical Pogo Sticks

The more you look at it, the more you think to yourself: why? Mechanical pogo sticks were the extreme sports version of childhood ecstasy. They required two things: core stability and a complete disregard for personal safety, the latter of which was found generously in that generation.

Color Wheel Lamps for Aluminum Christmas Trees

The color wheel was a “specialized” lighting equipment that rotated colored filters to make metallic Christmas trees change colors continuously. Was it essential? Not at all. Was it delightfully excessive and a little over the top? Absolutely. It was like holiday decorating for the space age.

Hard to believe, but these clunky contraptions were once the height of kitchen innovation…

Hairdryers With Bonnet Hoods

A salon-style hair-drying experience that required women to sit motionless for extended periods of time while hot air swirled around their hair. Though the process took forever and looked quite ridiculous, it was considered the height of hair care technology.

Popcorn Poppers

Popcorn poppers were truly counter-top prime real estate for occasional snacking duties back in the day. All you needed were four ingredients: oil, kernels, careful timing, and constant vigilance to prevent kitchen fires or inedible charcoal. Sounds easy enough.

Hand-Crank Ice Cream Makers

If dessert preparation were an endurance sport, hand-crank ice-cream making would be number one. This machine would make your arm ache and your back protest, but the promise of homemade ice cream was enough to keep you going.

Percolator Coffee Pots

Before Keurigs and drip machines, mornings in the ’60s often began with the bubbling and gurgling of a percolator coffee pot. The brewing process was visible through a glass dome, allowing you to watch your coffee get progressively stronger.