Today we can use a smartphone for almost anything. But it hasn’t always been this way. Here’s what life was like 40 years ago!
Christine Balderas/Getty Images (Maps); Sony (Walkman); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)
Maps
Heading to a new place? You need a paper map to help you get there.
Phones
Want to call someone while you’re out? You have to find a pay phone—and put coins in it first!
Information
Need to look something up? There is no Google. So off to the library you go! You can search in encyclopedias—large books with facts on many topics.
Cameras
To snap pictures, you use a camera with a roll of film. Then you drop the film off at a store to have the photos printed—which can take days!
Music
If you want to listen to music on the go, you have to bring your Walkman and a cassette tape.
Can't Miss Teaching Extras
Have a technology-themed conversation with your students in “Should Lulu Have a Phone?,” a debate about whether or not third-graders are too young to own the device.
Want to dive even deeper into the history of screens? Read the paired text “The History of Television/Television Transformed” about how TVs changed our lives forever.
There’s more screen time where that came from! Explore the history of famous video games in “The Rise of Roblox,” “The History of Video Games,” and “Minecraft and LEGO History.”
