For Generation X, growing up meant analog everything. You had to wait, rewind, dial, and hope no one picked up the other line. While Gen Z grew up with smartphones and streaming, Gen X grew up with mixtapes and mall arcades.
Here are 30 things Gen X remembers that Gen Z has probably never experienced—unless they found them in a thrift shop or a ‘retro’ app.
1. Dial-Up Internet Tones
The screeching symphony of connecting to AOL is unforgettable—and painfully slow.
2. Saturday Morning Cartoons
This sacred weekly ritual died with streaming. Cartoons only came on once a week—and you had to be there.
3. Cassette Tapes and Pencil Rewinds
When the tape got chewed up, a pencil came to the rescue.
4. Floppy Disks
You could save a Word document—or maybe two—and that was it.
5. MTV Actually Playing Music Videos
Before reality shows, MTV was the place to discover new music and stare at videos for hours.
6. Blockbuster Friday Nights
Walking the aisles for 45 minutes to pick one movie, hoping your choice wasn’t already rented.
7. Encyclopedias as the Internet
If your school project needed info, this 26-volume set was your Google.
8. The Sears Wish Book
Kids circled pages for Santa every December. It was Amazon before Amazon.
9. Pay Phones
Find a quarter, hope it works, and remember your friend’s number by heart.
10. Mix CDs—and Before That, Mixtapes
Making one for your crush was a love language Gen Z will never quite understand.
11. TV Guides
You actually had to plan your week around what time a show came on.
12. Film Canisters
Photos weren’t instant—and you had to wait to see if they even turned out.
13. Trapper Keepers
Stylish, loud, and essential. You weren’t cool unless yours had a unicorn or lightning bolt.
14. Columbia House Mail-Order Music
The best scam of the ‘90s. Just don’t ask about the hidden subscription fees.
15. Roller Rinks as Friday Night Plans
Where friendships were tested, romances bloomed, and falling was part of the fun.
16. AOL Chat Rooms
Your username, your vibe. And yes, “ASL?” was how conversations started.
17. Manual TV Dials
Clicking through all 13 channels by hand. No remote in sight.
18. Metal Lunchboxes with Thermoses
He-Man, Strawberry Shortcake, The A-Team—they weren’t just shows, they were lunch status symbols.
19. Overhead Projectors in Class
Teachers used dry-erase markers and transparency sheets to show lessons on the wall.
20. Scratch-and-Sniff Stickers
Awards for good behavior that smelled like root beer or popcorn. Sometimes awful, sometimes glorious.
21. Beepers (Pagers)
Doctors and drug dealers weren’t the only ones using them—you just hoped your friend called back.
22. Phone Cords Long Enough to Stretch Across the House
Privacy meant dragging the phone into another room and closing the door.
23. Stick-on Book Covers from Grocery Stores
M&M’s, Pepsi, or Doritos on your math book? Peak back-to-school cool.
24. Pencil Cases with Sliding Compartments
A Swiss Army knife of school supplies, complete with secret buttons and pop-outs.
25. Paper Fortune Tellers
Your entire romantic future is decided by your friend at recess.
26. The Dewey Decimal System
To find a book, you had to know decimals. And know how to use them.
27. Chain Letters
If you didn’t copy and send it to five friends, something terrible would happen. (It didn’t.)
28. Disposable Cameras with Wind-Up Film
Point, shoot, hope for the best—and wait a week for blurry prints.
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29. Manual Window Cranks in Cars
The original arm workout before power everything took over.
Read More: 20 Gen X Things That Gen Z Will Never Understand
30. Actual Boredom
No phone. No streaming. Just you, your imagination, and maybe a flashlight under the blanket.
Gen X grew up in a world where everything took a little more effort—and maybe a little more patience. And while tech has changed the way we live, some of those low-tech memories still hold up as a good kind of nostalgia.
Read More: 15 Gen X Trends That Totally Disappeared
