Rabbit Ears and Stick Shifts: The Things Kids Today Wouldn’t Understand

It wasn't that long ago that a home phone was an essential fiber in every Louisiana household.

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As recently as 2005, a person couldn't imagine life without having a phone stationed in nearly every room of their house.

Though most everyone had a mobile cell phone by that time, the home phone was still considered a necessity for most Louisiana families.

In a survey completed by late 2024, only about twenty four percent om American homes still had a home phone and most of those with that home phone were households of persons 75 years of age or older.

Technology has crept into nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Our cell phones have circumvented the need for so many other devices. This one little gadget has become a catch-all of sorts for so many things we once deemed necessary.

That phone has taken away the need for a calculator, a thesaurus, a typewriter, the need for pen and paper, paper calendars, it's even shut out the need for stand-alone cameras. For that matter, it's eliminated the need for paper maps and the age-old compass.

However, there are certain other items we once used daily, that we absolutely have no need for today.

At one point every home had at least one stereo or "record player." Many can remember placing a large stack of singles freshly purchased from Stan's on it and laying back to listen to their favorites for the next 30 minutes or having to put a penny on top of the arm of the player so the stylus would quit skipping on the worn-out portions of the vinyl. Those were the days!

On my personal Facebook page I asked about other things that were once in every home that have now disappeared and the responses I got were staggering to consider.

• Mike wrote that he no longer uses a coffee percolator or an alarm clock. Yeah, the old alarm clock was yet another victim of that cell phone.
• Eddie mentioned "the stove", but don't laugh.  Consider how few of your meals are prepared in/on the stove as compared to the microwave
• Duke and Tiffany both mentioned "the phone book".  Don't need it.  We have Google.
• Bobbiann wrote, "CD's" and she's right. That's what mp3s are for these days
• Tammy mentioned "encyclopedias".  Another victim of the Google monster
• Katie mentioned "a beeper." Chalk another one up for your cell phone.
• Jeremy wrote about one of the few things not replaced by your cell phone or Google when he wrote "standard transmission."  Makes you wonder how many Generation Z kids would be totally stranded if a vehicle with a stick shift was their only means of transportation
• Lana wrote "clothes lines" and that took me back to that fresh smell of laundry hanging out on a warm summer day. Good times.
• Kane mentioned "ash trays" and that was a home run for me.  I don't remember the last ash tray I saw (not one of those outside a store, but a real glass ash tray)
• Sheila mentioned a "dictionary" and my mind wandered to my youth and having to open up that 40 pound Webster's to find the meaning of any word I didn't understand
• Lyn mentioned a "tea pot" and I could hear the distant whistle of my grandmother's pot in the depths of my memory
• Karen threw in "rabbit ear antenna" and I chuckled to myself thinking of our old Zenith Chromacolor TV.  Rabbit ears on top and my little brother WAS the remote control for all 3 channels we had in Shreveport.
• Woody and Ed mentioned the "transistor radio" and I fondly remembered it was that old radio that served as inspiration for what I would call my forever career when I was just a young man

One of the biggest responses I received from many was "common sense."  The sad part about the lack of use of that one is that nothing has come along to replace it.

We just seem to have lost the need for it.