The birth of the smartphone as we know it today has left its fair share dead devices. The trail of distraction brought about by the smartphone today, is being felt across different sectors.
Well, for today’s throwback we look at five devices that we once used or carried around but that is no longer the case, thanks to that gadget you love, your smartphone.
Alarm Clocks
Can you actually imagine that you had to get a special watch that had an alarm clock. I remember almost everyone I know had a variation of the alarm clock pictured above, yeah, I had one myself (to all those who think I’m too young). Right now, virtually no one really uses an alarm clock, and yeah there are companies still trying to “innovate” by coming up with digital alarm clocks that wake you up with a certain scent and all other gimmicks, but we all know that the most reliable alarm clock is that one you find bundled with your smartphone’s clock app. (Unless your phone’s battery dies out).
Watches
Whether it’s those old wall clocks or just the traditional wrist watch, we hardly see them around. I wear a wrist watch, but it is all for aesthetics. I hardly remember to use it to check the time. You know why? There’s this thing we call a smartphone. It has somehow become natural to just reach for your phone to check the time as opposed to lifting your wrist.
Music Players
I have listed this device before under technologies went obsolete, and here it is again. Remember Sony Walkman? The iPod? Yeah, those days. Nowadays if you want to listen to music, you just pop in your earphones into your smartphone and open the music player app.
Compact Cameras
Remember how exciting it was when we moved from those film-based cameras to the newer compact digital cameras? They were much smaller, looked better and somehow shot better. Until the smartphone came. Ok, the compact camera didn’t die out immediately, but I bet you my current smartphone will shoot better than any compact camera from one year ago. Smartphones have become so good in photography, they are totally wiping out compact cameras.
Calendars
I know it’s not a device but these things used to be huge. Looking forward to the new year just to see the images on the new calendar. Every month felt new because the image would be different from the previous. Now we just have apps that show us the date, alow us to set reminders and plan our days, which is all good, but they don’t have a new image every new month 🙁
BONUS: Calculators
Do you even own one anymore?
