20 Totally Random Things You Haven’t Thought About Since The ’80s
Remember when life meant waiting for your favorite song on the radio so you could hit record? The ’80s were packed with gadgets, toys, and trends that shaped an entire generation. From neon everything to plastic accessories, these items defined childhood and teenage years in ways smartphones never could.
Get ready for a nostalgia trip that’ll make you smile and maybe even hunt through your attic.
20. Walkman – The Original Portable Cassette Player
Before earbuds became invisible, the Walkman clipped to your belt like a badge of honor. Sony revolutionized music in 1979, but the ’80s made it legendary.
Everyone strutted down sidewalks with foam headphones, rewinding their favorite tracks manually. Freedom never sounded so good, even if the batteries died mid-song and left you stranded in silence.
19. VHS Tapes & VCRs – Friday Night Movie Rentals And Rewinds
Racing to Blockbuster before all the good movies disappeared became a Friday ritual. VHS tapes stacked beside TVs like trophies, each one a portal to adventure.
Rewinding wasn’t optional – stores charged fees if you forgot. The satisfying click-clunk of inserting a tape? Pure magic that streaming will never replicate, no matter how convenient it gets.
18. Rubik’s Cube – That Colorful Brain-Twisting Puzzle Everyone Tried To Solve
Six sides, nine stickers each, and infinite frustration wrapped in a three-inch cube. Hungarian professor Ernő Rubik created it in 1974, but the ’80s turned it into a worldwide obsession.
Kids peeled off stickers when algorithms failed them. Speed-solving competitions crowned champions, while most of us just spun it randomly, hoping luck would align those stubborn colors.
17. Boom Boxes – Shoulder-Mounted Music Powerhouses
Nothing announced your arrival like a boom box blasting from your shoulder. These portable stereos weighed more than textbooks but delivered street cred by the megawatt.
Dual cassette decks meant recording mixtapes from the radio became an art form. Parks, basketball courts, and street corners transformed into concert venues wherever someone lugged one of these bad boys around town.
16. Polaroid Cameras – Instant Photos That Developed Before Your Eyes
Shake it like a Polaroid picture! Watching images materialize from blank film felt like witnessing actual wizardry.
No waiting days for drugstore prints, your memories appeared in minutes, complete with that signature white border. Birthday parties, school dances, and family vacations got documented instantly, even if half the shots turned out blurry or overexposed beyond recognition.
15. Cassette Tapes – Handmade Mixtapes Of Love, Heartbreak, Or Summer Jams
Creating the perfect mixtape required strategy, timing, and serious dedication. You couldn’t just skip tracks, every song mattered, every transition told a story.
Recording from the radio meant hovering over the pause button, praying the DJ wouldn’t talk over your jam. Giving someone your mixtape? That was basically handing them your heart wrapped in magnetic ribbon.
14. Arcade Machines – Pac-Man, Space Invaders, And Neon-Lit Hangouts
Quarters clinked like treasure as arcades became the coolest spots in town. Flashing screens and electronic beeps created a sensory wonderland that malls and pizza joints embraced wholeheartedly.
High scores etched your initials into legend, at least until someone better came along. Standing elbow-to-elbow with strangers, all chasing pixelated glory – that was peak social gaming before online multiplayer existed.
13. Slap Bracelets – That Satisfying Snap On Your Wrist
Whack! Metal wrapped in fabric transformed straight rulers into instant jewelry. One slap against your wrist and physics did the rest, curling it perfectly into place.
Schools banned them faster than you could say safety hazard, which only made them cooler. Trading patterns with friends became currency, and wearing five at once? Total power move that screamed ’80s kid through and through.
12. Cabbage Patch Kids – The Dolls That Caused Shopping Chaos
Parents literally fought in toy store aisles over these wrinkly-faced dolls with yarn hair. Each one came with adoption papers and a unique name, making ownership feel deeply personal.
Xavier Roberts handmade the originals in Georgia before mass production hit. Christmas 1983 turned into retail warfare as demand exploded beyond anyone’s wildest predictions, cementing these cuties in pop culture history forever.
11. View-Master – Click Through 3D Pictures Of Animals And Landmarks
Hold it up to the light, press the lever, and suddenly you’re swimming with dolphins or exploring the Grand Canyon. Stereoscopic images created depth that felt almost real.
Educational reels taught geography and wildlife, while cartoon ones brought Saturday morning favorites into dimensional life. That satisfying click between frames became the soundtrack of childhood curiosity and imagination running wild.
10. Atari 2600 – When Joystick Gaming Ruled The Living Room
Blocky graphics never looked so amazing when you were dodging pixelated enemies. The Atari 2600 launched home gaming into the stratosphere with its wood-grain console and chunky cartridges.
Space Invaders, Pitfall, and Frogger kept families glued to TV screens for hours. Blowing on cartridges to make them work became everyone’s secret tech support trick, even though it probably didn’t actually help.
9. Jelly Shoes – Plastic, Colorful, And Squeaky But Adored
Transparent plastic molded into sandals somehow became the height of fashion. They squeaked with every step and left weird tan lines, but kids wore them everywhere anyway.
Water-resistant and cheap, they survived pools, beaches, and playgrounds without complaint. Sure, they caused blisters and smelled funky after rain, but glitter-filled versions made up for every discomfort with pure sparkly joy.
8. Phone Booths – Drop A Quarter And Make A Call
Superman changed in them, but regular folks just needed to call home. Glass-enclosed havens dotted street corners, offering privacy and connection before cell phones made them obsolete.
Operator assistance cost extra, and long-distance rates could drain your quarters fast. Waiting in line while someone yapped forever tested patience, but hearing a familiar voice crackling through the receiver? Worth every coin.
7. Record Players & Vinyl LPs – When Every Album Felt Like An Event
Carefully removing a record from its sleeve, placing the needle, and hearing that warm crackle – pure ritual. Album art transformed music into visual experiences you could hold and admire.
Flipping to Side B halfway through meant engagement streaming can’t match. Scratches told stories of countless plays, and finding rare pressings at record stores felt like discovering buried treasure in dusty bins.
6. Roller Skates – Saturday Nights Under Disco Lights
Four wheels, toe stops, and a disco ball overhead created magic at roller rinks everywhere. Couples skated during slow jams while friends raced during upbeat tracks.
Rental skates smelled weird but nobody cared when the DJ dropped your jam. Limbo contests and backwards skating separated amateurs from legends. Bruised knees and scraped palms? Just badges proving you gave it your all out there.
5. Etch A Sketch – The OG Drawing Tablet For Kids
’’ via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.
Two knobs controlled horizontal and vertical lines, turning simple aluminum powder into surprisingly detailed artwork. Mastering curves required patience and serious coordination between both hands working simultaneously.
Shaking it clean felt both satisfying and sad – hours of work vanished instantly. Diagonal lines challenged even talented artists, but staircase patterns came easy. Though, creating anything beyond stick figures earned major respect from impressed friends watching.
4. CRT Televisions – Bulky Screens With Antenna Rabbit Ears
These massive boxes weighed approximately one million pounds and required two people to move safely. Rabbit ear antennas needed constant adjustment, someone always got stuck holding them at weird angles for better reception.
Smacking the side sometimes fixed fuzzy pictures, though nobody understood why. Channel surfing meant getting up and turning an actual dial, which counted as exercise basically. Static electricity shocks from the screen? Free entertainment between Saturday morning cartoons.
3. Swatch Watches – Bright, Funky Accessories That Screamed Personality
Swiss watchmakers created affordable timepieces that doubled as fashion statements. Neon colors, wild patterns, and interchangeable bands meant expressing yourself through wrist candy became totally acceptable.
Collecting multiple Swatches to match different outfits? Absolutely normal behavior in the ’80s. Wearing several at once showed commitment to the aesthetic. These plastic wonders proved watches didn’t need to be serious – they could be fun, bold, and unapologetically loud.
2. Floppy Disks – Saving Files One Megabyte At A Time
Actually floppy despite their hard plastic shells, these 5.25-inch wonders stored entire school projects on magnetic magic. Later, 3.5-inch versions added satisfying sliding metal covers for protection.
Labeling them with permanent marker felt official and important. One megabyte seemed like infinite storage until you needed to save something slightly larger. The terrifying “disk full” error message taught lessons about digital limits nobody wanted to learn repeatedly.
1. Koosh Balls – Rubbery Strands You Couldn’t Stop Squeezing
’’ via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Thousands of rubber filaments radiated from a central core, creating the most satisfying stress ball ever invented. Bright colors and weird textures made them irresistible to fidgety hands everywhere.
Tossing them back and forth never got old because they were practically impossible to drop. Teachers confiscated them during class, but kids smuggled them in backpacks anyway. Stretching the strands provided endless entertainment during boring moments that needed tactile distraction immediately.
