I’m not necessarily a super nostalgic person, nor am I much of a gamer… but when looking through our sister site, Commercial Integrator‘s list of nostalgic tech gifts throughout the ages, I felt a sudden longing for some days gone by.
The list was a recapitulation of holiday tech nerd gifts through the ages: from Ataris to Game Boys to iPods to Alexa devices.
Looking through this list, I was reminded that tech nerd gifts tend not to have the most staying power. They often become dated very quickly. What was a groundbreaking gift during one holiday season is often a laughable memory just a few years later.
best nostalgic gifts
In other words, tech nerd gifts are easy to mock. And that’s where the list entered the equation.
Here are some of Commercial Integrator‘s tech gifts from the past 40 years. Did you ask for these when they were hot?
Atari Video Computer System — late ’70s
Maybe the popularity of Simon—and the proliferation of Star Wars action figures—in 1977 and 1978 led to a slow burn when it came to the popularity of the Atari Video Computer System (later known as the Atari 2600), but everything changed in Christmas 1979, when more than a million of them sold that year. The Atari 2600 console sold more than 10 million copies by 1982.
Transformers — mid ’80s
Transformers dominated the holiday season in 1984. These “robots in disguise” gave kids hours of entertainment as the vehicles alternated between vehicles and robots defending the universe from their evil foes. Transformers remain popular almost 25 years later.
Nintendo Game Boy — Late ’80s
“Wait a second. Are you telling me that I can now play Tetris on a portable device while waiting for a table at the Ground Round and never have to make conversation with my family again?” asked every child between the ages of 8 and 15 when the Ninendo Game Boy handheld game console came out in 1989.
Beepers/Pagers — Early ’90s
At some point in the 1990s beeper or pagers made the transition from living in the breast pockets of on-call doctors and repairmen to sitting on the hips of the coolest folks in town. Jeans manufacturers scurried to develop the ideal pockets and hooks not just to accommodate pagers – but to highlight them.
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Apple iPod — Early 2000s
If there’s one device that changed how we listen to music, it is the original Apple iPod (nevermind how it changed product design, or paved the way for the now-standard iPhone).
Suddenly, music lovers had the capability to store thousands of songs in the palm of their hand and call up a range of tunes they just couldn’t access with a single CD, vinyl, or even radio station.
Amazon Echo & other IoT devices — late 2010s
If you had told someone they could order their favorite goods online by talking to a thin black disc just ten years ago, they would have looked at you like you’re some wannabe sci-fi writer. Now, it’s commonplace.
These devices aren’t just popular among consumers, either: if integrators don’t know how to utilize an Echo Dot for more than just re-ordering groceries, they might miss out in the meeting room market these days.
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