THIS is a real test of how old you are. If you score 20 your future is short

68 points · 151 comments · view on lemmy.world

151 Comments

deHaga@feddit.uk · 38 pts · 251d (1 reply)

Do they mean a mix tape?

three@lemmy.zip · 10 pts · 251d

You must be 18 to post here.

the_q@lemmy.zip · 35 pts · 251d (9 replies)
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ik5pvx@lemmy.world · 19 pts · 251d

Book, probably

woelkchen@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 251d (6 replies)

What’s a phone bo?

More importantly: Why is there aa jizz stain at the o?

spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 251d

The second column is all misaligned too.

ryannathans@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 250d (3 replies)

A watermark was removed, which got rid of the OK

MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 250d

Ok

woelkchen@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 248d (1 reply)

OCR and making this an accessible text post would have been easier.

ryannathans@aussie.zone · 1 pts · 247d

I don't disagree

criss_cross@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 250d

AI is my guess given the lack of structure

frog_brawler@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 251d
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queermunist@lemmy.ml · 19 pts · 250d

20 is a typo, it's actually phone bō and it's the art of fighting with a phone staff.

Diddlydee@feddit.uk · 18 pts · 251d (10 replies)

So everyone over 35 or so?

chocrates@piefed.world · 4 pts · 251d (3 replies)

I'm 37 and only about 16 points.
I didn't ever use a typewriter afaik, nor a rotary phone.

I was in the era of aol addresses but my first email was when I got into the Gmail beta 😎

Sadly I need to extricate myself from Gmail

faintwhenfree@lemmus.org · 3 pts · 250d

I'm 31 and I scored all 20, assuming last is phone book. Although I only trained in typewriter, never actually sent anyone a letter. Although I did type a contract for my dad so I guess that's a real use case. All 20 then.

Soulphite@reddthat.com · 3 pts · 251d (1 reply)

I'm 38, I scored 20 points unfortunately. I only used a rotary phone because my grandmother had one and she also had a typewriter that I'd fuck around with for fun... never used it to write my dissertation for a PhD or anything like that.

Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 4 pts · 251d

Almost 40, 20 point gang

I’ve used heaps of typewriters. My mum had an antique one when I was growing up that still worked and I loved it.

Mickey7@lemmy.world · -6 pts · 251d (5 replies)

I think you'd be 50 or older

Psionicsickness@reddthat.com · 6 pts · 251d (2 replies)

38 here, 20 for 20

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (1 reply)

surprised you could be that young and still have run the list

PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 249d

Realistically, if old equipment still worked then people wouldn't necessarily just get rid of it as soon as something new came out. I'm not that old and the only 2 things I haven't used were rotary phone and mix tape (assuming CD mix 'tapes' and personally recorded stuff on tapes also don't count)

Diddlydee@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 251d

I'm 43 and it's 20. My mate is 37 and it's also all 20.

ramble81@lemmy.zip · 3 pts · 251d

Early 40s and 20/20. I’m guessing you’re pretty young.

Formfiller@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 250d (8 replies)

Elder millennial all 20

WanakaTree@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 250d (1 reply)

I know right. I'm 39, all 20.

Formfiller@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d

To be fair I spent a lot of time with my grandparents

xilence@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 250d (2 replies)

37, got 19. Never had a mix tape.

Formfiller@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 250d

Whattt? I feel like I should make you a mix tape

Doublenut@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 249d

Same. Plenty of "mix tape" CDs but no tapes. Unless you count the one I stole from my aunt. Also not sure if I can count a word processing machine as a type writer. I've used a real typewriter but just for fun.

Trashcan@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 250d (2 replies)

I have them all, except 5 and 12. Not from the States, so no aol. And cheques were fazed(?) out really early here, so have never seen one in use. The crossover breed of XMillenial here.

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 249d (1 reply)

You can't start with I have them "all". Then put in exceptions. That's not how all works.

Trashcan@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 247d

But that's how languages work.. I think you should try to read the Oxford Dictionary and come back with an apology when you are finished

https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/except_1

Kolanaki@pawb.social · 12 pts · 251d (6 replies)

Mixed Tape

Does this mean a mix tape or is that something else? 🤨

Also: I've used a rotary phone, but only because I had bought a novelty modern phone that used a rotary dialer in the 90s.

I got 19 or 20, depending on the answer to my question about the "mixed tape" thing.

exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 251d

Smithers, I really feel like a free spirit. And I'm really enjoying this so-called "iced cream."

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d (4 replies)

I think "mixed tape" refers to when you could take a cassette and record different songs onto it. Though I don't remember how it was done unless you caught a song playing on the radio at just the right point. Using a novelty dial phone wouldn't really count.

Thunderbird4@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 251d

Right, but that’s usually called a “mix tape”, not “mixed” unless that’s some kind of regional thing. I’ve never heard anyone call that a “mixed tape” before this post.

DBT@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 251d (2 replies)

You’d often see cassette players with two tape decks, so you could play one while recording with the other.

You could also record from radio, record player, or whatever else your stereo had. Boom boxes with two tape decks were fairly common.

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (1 reply)

good explanation and it jarred my memory as to how it was done

Rhaedas@fedia.io · 4 pts · 251d

And if you were lucky you'd have a higher end stereo system that could fade in the sounds too. Combine that with a pause, you could avoid that jarring noise of starting and stopping recording between songs. Just had to find the stations that didn't have the DJs who talked halfway through the song intro.

I'm a solid 20. Those of you who didn't get very high scores, you don't know what you missed.

IWW4@lemmy.zip · 11 pts · 251d (10 replies)

I am assuming Phone Bo is Phone book.

chocrates@piefed.world · 5 pts · 251d (2 replies)

The meme creator got lazy and just didn't do the last two letters?

jj4211@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 251d

He must have died while typing...

hateisreality@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

Their time was shorter

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d

yes

state_electrician@discuss.tchncs.de · 1 pts · 251d (5 replies)

Same here. I have used everything on this list at least once.

IWW4@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 251d (4 replies)

I have used them all so many times I lost count.

jj4211@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (3 replies)

Lost count due to the dementia

IWW4@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 251d (2 replies)

This thread is implying that all of that stuff is ancient history. With the exception of the AOL addresses, Walkman and cassette tapes everything else on that list is still in use.

Hell audio-Philes swear y turn tables.

jj4211@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (1 reply)

Fax machines, fine, certain organizations still require those mostly because people fall to understand that a fax machine is just a scanner and printer and this some bearaucracy failed to keep pace.

Same story for checkbooks.

AOL is still a thing and you can even sign up for it today, email address wise.

Record players are in use, though more people own records than record players, more popular as display pieces than actual music medium.

I would say everything else on the list is pretty much dead unless you go out of your way to do them, and nothing else on the list has so much nostalgia appeal compared to the problems and difficulty with them.

IWW4@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 251d

All of them are still in use..

WanderWisley@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 250d (4 replies)

20/20 and I’ll add Atari, illegal cable hookup, and limewire.

AlphaOmega@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 250d (3 replies)

Add Napster, ICQ, and AOL chatrooms ... A/S/L?

ouRKaoS@lemmy.today · 6 pts · 250d (2 replies)

I'll add Saturday morning cartoons, planning your week around when shows came on TV, and renting movies from a grocery store/pharmacy.

PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 249d (1 reply)

Ooohhh I totally forgot about renting movies from the grocery store!

Maybe we can add palm pilots and tvs where the channel changer was a knob you had to adjust

AlphaOmega@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 249d

That reminds me of the first VCR my family owned. Wired remotes anyone?

HikingVet@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 251d (3 replies)

19 out of 20. Unless just testing a waterbed counts....

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 251d (2 replies)

Yeah it counts. I've "tried" them but never owned them. So that counts

HikingVet@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 251d (1 reply)

I am not being euphemismistic.

Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 251d

If you’ve just sat on a waterbed I’d count it

absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz · 8 pts · 250d (3 replies)

5 makes no sense outside of USA
20 What is phone bo? book?

19, 20 if NZ equivalent of AOL

MeThisGuy@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 250d (1 reply)

phone book or booth, either works.
double points if you've used a phone book in a phone booth

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 249d

Woot! 2X.

NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone · 2 pts · 250d

AOL was more international than you think. Free beer mats for everybody.

ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 250d (2 replies)

19/20. Only because I refused to use AOL.

froh42@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d (1 reply)

18/20 because waterbeds weren't a common thing here and I already had internet access and a mail address before AOL was a thing. Whoever made that list should have added usenet.

ragepaw@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 249d

I'm still on usenet.

NoPanko@feddit.uk · 8 pts · 251d (1 reply)

This title/post combination is peak 2005 myspace/facebook posting

exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 3 pts · 251d

The choices also tend to center around 2005, with only a handful of technologies that were made definitely obsolete before 1995 or after 2010.

exasperation@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 8 pts · 251d (1 reply)

Terrible distribution of options. A good list would have a series of technologies and tools that became obsolete at different times. Almost all of these became obsolete with the rise of broadband internet in the early 2000's, while a handful were earlier (rotary phones) or later (paper maps, paper checks).

ArfArfWoof@feddit.org · 1 pts · 250d

The point of this "meme" is for OP to toot they own horn. This selection is a good choice for that. Effective means for an ill end.

percent@infosec.pub · 6 pts · 250d

I got all 20, but I never used vinyl records until just a few years ago

lastweakness@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 251d (4 replies)

17/20. I'm 25

VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 9 pts · 251d (3 replies)

Yeah, in don't think many of us touched a Phone Bo. They're impossible to find after we started making bo staffs out of better material like wood.

lastweakness@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

Very unfortunate that we never got the chance.

Nasan@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 250d (1 reply)

In my family's house growing up, we duct taped our only phone's receiver to a Bo staff so we could pass the phone between rooms without having to leave the room.

VitoRobles@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 249d

I'm laughing at the idea!

UNY0N@lemmy.wtf · 6 pts · 250d

I'm assuming that "phone bo" means phone book? If that's true then I'm at 20/20.

I plan to live forever. So far, so good.

Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 251d

19, but only because waterbeds were never really a thing in the UK

altphoto@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 250d

Bingo!

Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 251d (2 replies)

Does it could if I've used them for the novelty?

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d (1 reply)

doesn't count

Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d

Then I got 8

AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 251d

Did you really need to use ai to make a text based meme? I completely lost hope in humanity after seeing this

Droggelbecher@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 250d

Half of these are still in use simply because some people think they're cool, or when someone prefers to not have to rely on technology (e.g. paper maps don't run out of electricity while you're on a long hike).

HulkSmashBurgers@reddthat.com · 5 pts · 250d

Lol #9 is mix tape 🤣😂

Jeeve65@ttrpg.network · 5 pts · 251d (2 replies)

You don't scare me.
AOL never was available in my country. Check books? I've never even seen someone actually using one, I think.

I will never get to 20, yay!

flamingo_pinyata@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 251d

Same. I've seen people using cheques when I was a kid, but they were issued as separate sheets not in a form of a book

MudMan@fedia.io · 2 pts · 251d

Waterbeds also not a thing.

Not being American gets you 3 extra... years? decades? life units? Which does seem still accurate.

jdnewmil@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 251d (1 reply)

I never had my own AOL email account but I did throw away AOL signup disks and I sent email to AOL accounts... so I guess 20/20 assuming "phone bo" is a phone book.

As for not being long for this world... there are a lot of ways to go that don't link with being old, so I guess that checks out anyway.

Omgpwnies@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 250d

AOL disks were great when they were sending out floppies.. free disks!

MoonRaven@feddit.nl · 4 pts · 250d (2 replies)

AOL is very American, could've written dialup. Check books were also gone here long before they were in the US.

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d (1 reply)

Why did check books leave in the EU long before in the US?

MoonRaven@feddit.nl · 2 pts · 248d

We phased them out because of security reasons. Paying by card was introduced, at least in the Netherlands, in the 80s.

BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 250d

20/20, waterbeds were awesome.

DmMacniel@feddit.org · 4 pts · 251d (5 replies)

19; guess which one I've never used?

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 251d (1 reply)

Waterbed?

Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

That's a check if you were rich and old.

Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d (1 reply)

Check book

DmMacniel@feddit.org · 1 pts · 251d

exactly.

Passerby6497@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

Phone Bo?

(I really want to make a bo staff out of phones now)

AA5B@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 250d (3 replies)

Water beds are making a comeback. This coming year, I swear!

20/20, y’all invited the my funeral. Apparently any day now

Routhinator@startrek.website · 2 pts · 250d (2 replies)

Guess we dying in our mid 40's.. What is this? The middle ages!?

AA5B@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d (1 reply)

Since no one can afford health insurance, vaccines are apparently bad, and our government is prescribing horse dewormer …. We’re getting there

Routhinator@startrek.website · 2 pts · 250d

Take my depressed upvote.

tym@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 250d
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spacemanspiffy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 251d (1 reply)

Everything but 5 and 13. Guess I'll go die, then.

Postmortal_Pop@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

I highly suggest finding a typewriter, they're actually really fun.

Routhinator@startrek.website · 4 pts · 250d

20/20

Hupf@feddit.org · 4 pts · 250d

Are we censoring books now?

unknown1234_5@kbin.earth · 4 pts · 251d

i work at a library it isnt fair for me to compete. i only use the fax machine because the government won't let old people email them and they dont know how to anyway.

aeronmelon@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 251d

I’ve used everything on this list, I win!

A7thStone@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 250d

Does it count if I own a typewriter, even though I've never used it?

Hossenfeffer@feddit.uk · 3 pts · 251d

Surely that should be 'mix tape'? I scored 17 so I anticipate living for another hundred years!

Plus also, what the fuck are you doing on my lawn, ooh innit cold, the price of stamps these days, look at how young those policemen look, fucking cloud!

victorz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 250d

18, damn.

Enkrod@feddit.org · 3 pts · 251d (2 replies)

17 points, I'm 43, no AOL address, no check book or waterbed.

GiantChickDicks@lemmy.ml · 1 pts · 250d (1 reply)

40 here, scored a 19. I'm fascinated that you were able to avoid checkbooks all this time. Back in the day it was the only form of rent payment my landlords would accept, so I didn't have much choice.

I've also had to use them in oddball situations recently, like paying a passport application fee. The passports weren't even for me. I was just the only one in the friend group that still has checks from when I first opened my account.... almost 20 years ago. They're my age, so maybe it's me who's the outlier here, haha.

Enkrod@feddit.org · 2 pts · 250d

Avoiding checkbooks? Easy, be not american.

troed@fedia.io · 3 pts · 251d (1 reply)

number 20 does elude me

Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 251d

It's when you are smelly while using a phone

stiephelando@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 251d

6 with many of them in my childhood or because of under-equipped schools

mavu@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 250d

Post card?
Cursive??
water bed????

Treczoks@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 251d
  1. Never had a water bed, never did a mix tape. No film camera, either.
RagnarokOnline@programming.dev · 3 pts · 251d

16, but I like vintage shit, nahmean?

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 249d

What about watching "Creature Double Feature"?

Godzilla and all his bitches!

infinitevalence@discuss.online · 3 pts · 250d

I am a little old for a Bo dont ya think?

tflyghtz@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 251d

13 i mean postcard? My work made me write post cards for Christmas even.

ikidd@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 250d (4 replies)

Add this number to 35 for your age.

MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 250d

According to that, I should be 53.

That's over a decade older than I am right now.

EchoCranium@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 250d

Weirdly enough, I find that accurate.

uniquethrowagay@feddit.org · 1 pts · 250d

I'm not even thirty and have like 10 points though

PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 249d

I got 18 and I'm not even 35 yet lol

tino@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 251d (3 replies)

18 cause I'm not American.

Proprietary_Blend@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (2 replies)

TIL dictionaries and encyclopedias are exclusively American.

Blue_Morpho@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (1 reply)

I'd guess cursive and AOL.

tino@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 250d

Waterbed and AOL.

Bruncvik@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

Dude. I still use 8 of them. And you'll only take those eight from my cold, dead fingers. Which, apparently, won't be long...

Agent641@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d

I was too poor to have a waterbed, walkman and chequebook

Griffus@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 250d

Never had VCR, AOL or phone bo. Don't think AOL ever was a thing here anyway, it was Sol or Kvasir and then Hotmail. The rest my 37 years have included.

Valmond@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d

Luckily we didn't have AOL emails where I lived.

But checks? Still use them, they're dead useful for school stuff, sport events for the kids and so on.

Sorse@discuss.tchncs.de · 2 pts · 250d (1 reply)

3/20

MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 250d

Child.

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org · 2 pts · 249d (1 reply)

Records have been resurgent for a decade. The person who made this thinks they're funny and biting, but they are out of touch with the culture.

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 249d

And definitely not a "record player". Turntable, mother fucker.

konalt@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d (5 replies)

1 :)

Hjalamanger@feddit.nu · 1 pts · 251d (1 reply)

3

Edit: or probably just 2

Caesium@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d

Just 3 for me, one of which actually being a waterbed. my parents had one until we had to sell the house in 2019

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (2 replies)

Only one? You really missed out on so many fun things

konalt@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d (1 reply)

I like to think I would've loved the internet circa 90s-2000s.

Mickey7@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d

The good part - there were ADS everywhere. Lots of stuff was really free. But it was slower.

FelixCress@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d (1 reply)

*cheque book

And why people from other countries than USA would necessarily use AOL?

jambudz@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 251d

It’s check book in the states, where the majority of native English speakers live.

AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 249d

19

MedicPigBabySaver@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 249d

Not 4, ... 20? Bitch please.

MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz · 0 pts · 251d
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