My Desire For Retro Tech

Becoming a parent or maybe getting older is making me miss and want some of my previous beloved gadgets.

Very soon I will be a parent to a second child. My wife is currently 37 weeks pregnant and to say we are excited would be an understatement. With that excitement also comes some anxiousness and I feel like researching and buying old tech is my therapy right now.

Some may not think all of these items that I am desiring are considered retro but for me it is. A lot of times the word retro is used more for gaming, but now that I am in my mid-30s and some of the gadgets that I miss and love are now 20+ years old, I consider them retro.

With our new baby coming, a lot of other things are going on right now. Some health concerns with family members, work is insanely busy, and my wife is in nesting mode so our house is currently under minor construction– paint, custom shelving, remodeled fireplace, furniture replacements, etc.

So scrolling through YouTube videos of people buying and using old iPods, ThinkPads, iPhones, and MacBooks has become a place of comfort and peace for me. The problem is, it has also led me to buy or bid on some things I don’t necessarily need.

The big justification for it though is that these gadgets are cheap. At least the more used and weathered ones. I plan to restore or modify some of them, which could accur additional costs, so these are not only fun gadgets to collect, but future projects to enjoy.

So here is a brief list of the things that I am currently bought and hopefully it inspires you to maybe find some deals on some nostalgic tech for yourself:

iPhone 11 Pro

I am currently having some issues with work-life balance right now, and having my phone be the same for work and personal has not been helping. It has been a great almost six months experiement since I decided to ditch my personal phone and use my work phone with two sim cards (to have my personal and work phone number on one phone).

The benefits sometimes feel like they outweigh the problems, but unfortunately as I get closer to having more responsibilities at home I am going to have to let some benefits go. One of those big benefits is having my work calendar and personal calendar together so I can schedule my family events inline with any work meetings.

This can still exist on my work phone, I just won’t have it on my personal phone since my work doesn’t allow me to connect my work email or calendar to personal phones. So I will still have some of the benefit, just not with me at all times if I don’t have my work phone with me.