Had a chat with my nephew about my old Nokia 3310 and it hit me different

Last weekend my 16 year old nephew picked up my old Nokia 3310 and asked why anyone would use a phone that doesn't even have TikTok. I tried to explain how it survived drops, had snake, and a flashlight that actually worked. He said yeah but it can't do anything useful like order food or check your bank balance. And honestly, it made me realize that for kids today old tech isn't nostalgic, it's just useless junk. I still use mine as a backup when I go hiking but maybe I'm the weird one for keeping it around. Has anyone else had a young person make you feel silly for holding onto old gadgets?

2 comments

2 Comments

reese_fox25d ago

Yeah but it can't do anything useful like order food or check your bank balance" - that line really stuck with me. It's like they see phones as just tools for on-demand services rather than actual communication devices. But here's the thing (and I know I sound old saying this), having a phone that doesn't do all that stuff is kind of the point if you want a break from being constantly online. I took my 3310 camping last summer and it was honestly freeing not having delivery apps or bank alerts buzzing at me. The battery lasted a whole week too, which is something modern phones just can't touch. Maybe we're not silly for keeping them, we're just the last generation that remembers what it's like to actually disconnect.

sage_rodriguez24d ago

Man same here. Took my old Nokia to a music festival last month and it felt great not checking for messages every five minutes, just used it to actually call people to meet up.