If Your Child Can’t Name These Products, Then They’re Vintage

When I was younger, I loved recording the outgoing message for our landline. My mom and I would practice, and she would count me in to begin. “Roses are red, violets are blue, leave a message and we’ll call you.”

That was our actual outgoing message for years, and my five-year-old self thought it was the coolest piece of technology I had ever witnessed. Recently, I came across an answering machine for sale on local a Facebook group with the word “vintage” in the description, and I had to ask myself a very hard question: am I vintage? Would kids these days even know what an answering machine is?

When I think of vintage items, I think of 18th-century artifacts and weathered personal items, not outdated technology. But what would kids have to say about that?

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And it doesn’t stop at answering machines. My dad is in a band and music was a big part of my childhood, so I used to have dozens of CDs. He would burn CDs for me, and I would play them in my boom box until it skipped from all the scratches. My CD collection was thriving in 2003, but when my dad asked if I wanted a CD player last weekend, I couldn’t help but laugh and gently remind him that I don’t own a CD stereo nor do I have a CD player in my car.

One day, you’re flipping through the latest No Doubt and Christina Aguilera albums, and the next, you’re wondering if the current population of kids have any idea what it means to burn a disc or "hit my line."

If a person living out their childhood in 2021 got their hands on a CD holder, would they say to themselves, “Wow! Look at all of these vintage CDs?”

If they saw an answering machine, would they have any idea what they’re looking at?

Curiosity tends to kill the cat, but I must know. If you have a child that is 18 years of age or younger, show them these pictures. Do they know what these are? Submit your answers below.