I miss the use of film for photography. I would celebrate the demise of all cheap nasty earphones that don’t keep the sound of personal stereos personal.
Anonymous
Good engineering design balances simplicity and functionality. Today’s cars have lost that balance, which might explain why classic car ownership continues to increase.
Geoff Miles, Tonbridge, Kent
The telex (1979) – I always loved writing up the form and spending time with the telex lady.
Eamonn Quinn, Oxford
The gramophone needle tracking across a record was an exercise in precision 3D geometry. Get rid of all speed bumps.
Graham Lawrence, Redbourn, Hertfordshire
The 1980s daisy-wheel printer. How I miss the high-pitched shrill of these fine machines! Nowadays all we can hear in the office are the clinks of spoons in cups, the occasional bodily function and the droning of the self-important on phone calls!
Dan McNeil, Scotland
A brain, common sense and practical experience. Ingenious design existed before computers!
Geoff Wiliams, Bristol
I miss cathode ray tube TV. The picture quality was better than plasma or LCD. I’d like to see the back of MS Windows in 2012!
Gavin Wilsher, Bath
I miss WordPerfect – for word processing it was simple to use and you could interrogate it to find out why it didn’t do what you expected.
Brian Rowney, Manchester
What happened to basic cars with manual gearboxes and no power steering? I’d like to see the back of 3D TV, it is useless.
Anonymous
I look back at cassettes with fondness. They introduced portable audio, and allowed consumers to record and share music. I’d like to see the back of landlines. The only reason I have one is to get broadband.
Graham Beckett, Lisburn
Human memory has been replaced by a slower, more limited version – the internet. Perhaps this year we can see off hand signatures.
Anonymous
The tea trolley – it’s not the technology I miss but the time to use it! Social media, and all the other things that eat people’s time without achieving anything.
Anonymous
I miss good old DOS. When that was about I could edit command lines, set permissions, debug faults, control environments.
Brian Burgess, Selby
The Teasmade was a brilliant piece of equipment. Technology to see the back of: hundreds of TV channels.
Anonymous
It’s the possibility of repairing things that I miss. Finding people to undertake repairs is fast disappearing. I’d like to see the early demise of diesel buses and lorries with a rapid changeover to at least diesel-electric hybrids or all-electric for local use.
Harvey Barker, Hull
The portable audio cassette player heralded a new dawn in personal technology, and revolutionised the world of music and audio entertainment. Games consoles: all they do is contribute to kids’ obesity, increase socio-apathy and consume electricity.
Eddy Akang, Gloucester
I miss Concorde. I would like to see the back of crowded Tube trains.
Glyn Hawkins, Hungerford
I miss my drawing board. Not only was it a place of creativity, but a meeting point where improvements and ideas were generated. I’d like to see the back of irrelevant emails. David Bowie put it beautifully: “My brain hurts like a warehouse that has no room to spare”.
Gary Lock, Dorking, Surrey
I miss the dining table. The opportunity to sit and talk about things has gone. I would be delighted if email went. It has not enhanced communication because people use it in the wrong way.
Anonymous
The slide rule has to be the most beautifully engineered and versatile precision-made masterpiece!
Herman Ruijsenaars, Lincoln
I miss high-wattage light bulbs. I would like to see the back of energy-saving light bulbs. The old bulbs did what they were supposed to, and provided light. The new bulbs only provide a low orange glow, of no use to anything, except flies and moths.
Graham H, Horsham
Modems were great. Not only did you get a chance for a cup of tea whilst waiting to see the weather forecast but you also got a lovely ba dong ba dong tune every time you used one. Don’t get me started on loading computer programs from tape.
Ben Zabell, Abingdon
I’d like to see the end of Twitter and a limit on Facebook on how often people can post. I’d like networks to have to differentiate between those for commercial uses and those for friends networking.
Anonymous
- What surviving technology would you like to see the back of in 2012? Share your views by commenting below.