Representational image. (Image by Canva)

Last week I discovered something fantastically amazing. Those who are in their 40s and 50s will certainly remember the ‘old fashioned USB device’. I call it that because, to us, it was the only way to store and transfer our documents out of our computers and old laptops. It was, of course, the good old floppy disk. Access to these devices was available on every computer and laptop you could buy back in the day. There was a floppy disk drive as well as a CD drive. We could buy floppy discs in packs of 10 and they came in various storage capacities. But, as computers and laptops advanced and other forms of storage devices became available, the makers removed floppy disk drives and some have even removed CD drives as well. But what is amazing is that, as advanced Japan is, did you know that up until a few months ago, many computers in Japan still had floppy disk drives because the country still required its citizens to submit documents on floppy disks that they had to send in through the post as was required by government regulations. But recently these regulations have been scrapped and so have floppy disks. But that’s amazing, isn’t it. That a country as advanced as Japan still used floppies?

But as technology advances, devices come and go and many youngsters of today will likely laugh at, or at least be confused by, what we used in our day. I wonder if they even know how to use a normal landline. In fact, I am amazed that many people in the UAE choose not to use a landline except to give themselves access to the internet and eLife, both of which require an associated landline number. I was told that people get it for the WIFI but never use it because they use their mobile phones to make calls. That is so silly. I mean, many local calls within an Emirate are free between landlines. Why would you choose to call a landline from a mobile when you’ll have to pay for it?

Therefore, I still think that some devices should make a comeback. For example, they should make rechargeable walkmans. I’m sure, like me, you have tapes with sounds that you can no longer hear. The same goes for VHS tapes as well. I am sure that there are many video recordings you have that you may no longer be able to watch. There are services that can convert these recordings to MP3 and MP4 files but the hoops you have to jump through and the costs involved are absurd. Another item that should still be around, or make a comeback as a rechargeable device, is the portable CD player. I know that people are now watching YouTube and movies on the net but if you purchased a favourite movie or a series on CD, and which may not be available online, then being able to play it on a portable CD player would be ideal. But since they are now considered Retro, I guess those CDs are pretty useless since there’s no way to play.

But some things just needed replacing. The Fax machines, for example. Some companies in far flung places still have them lying around and the fax number is often listed in their contact details. This was the only way to send documents and CVs to governments and potential employers. The downslide was if the machine was out of paper or it got a paper jam, and you had to be there to receive it.

And of course the pager. It was sort of like giving a missed call to someone. After you called the pager, you’d have to tell your staff that you’d called so and so on their pager so that they know who to transfer the call back to. The person with the pager would then have to find a phone to call that number back and say, someone called me. It was a bit like making and returning a missed call, but in a more convoluted way. The disadvantage was if the person being called couldn’t find a phone. Oh, the good old days.