History Main / WhatAreRecords

A subtrope of TechnologyMarchesOn, initially fueled by the novelty of the notion that a format of media could actually become obsolete. It bears mentioning that it started cropping up in fiction before 1990, and the characters unfamiliar with records were full-grown adults, meaning that in its earliest form the trope ran on shameless hyperbole. Even in the 21st century, though, [[RealityIsUnrealistic its realism is dubious]]. Most young people do indeed know what a vinyl record is (from more recent media depictions if nothing else), even if they never listened to or owned one themselves and don't know whether a "seven inch" was an album or a single, or whether 45 rpm came before or after 33 1/3. Modern [=DJs=] still use them, for instance, and their appearance in pop culture is almost ubiquitous. They've also been [[http://www.wired.com/entertainment/music/commentary/listeningpost/2007/10/listeningpost_1029 undergoing a resurgence of popularity]] among audiophiles, hipsters, indie music fans and even teenagers since 2007 (Sony is even pressing records again), thanks to their retro appeal and their exemption from the abuses of the LoudnessWar, and even outsold [=CDs=] for the first time in over 30 years in 2019. Consequently, while they still haven't overtaken streaming in terms of revenue, their renewed semi-popularity started to be acknowledged in mainstream media at the end of the 2010's, making this a DiscreditedTrope with regards to records themselves.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused with]] the record label of the same name, owned by Music/DavidWilcox. Contrast TechnologicallyBlindElders, the inverse.

* In the ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession18SpeakLikeAChild Speak Like a Child]]", Spike and Jet receive a Betamax tape for Faye in the mail. They are initially stumped as to what it is. Even when they are told to find a VCR to play it, they go through the ruins of Tokyo to find the electronics museum and return with one for VHS. What's particularly funny is that the Ed, who is younger than either Jet or Spike, is the only one familiar with such archaic tech.

* In one episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', Spike and Jet receive a Betamax tape for Faye in the mail. They are initially stumped as to what it is. Even when they are told to find a VCR to play it, they go through the ruins of Tokyo to find the electronics museum and return with one for VHS. What's particularly funny is that the Ed, who is younger than either Jet or Spike, is the only one familiar with such archaic tech.

* In ''[[Literature/RiversOfLondon False Value]]'', the otherwise tech-savvy Peter has no clue what Wicked is talking about when the old funfair showman says that the music "books" for his antique mechanical organ work like ''computer punch cards''.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/FoxTrot https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/what_are_records.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350: If you want to feel even older, this appeared in newspapers in 1998.[[note]]What's a newspaper?[[/note]]]]

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* Kerri Chandler's "Mommy What's a Record" has an OpeningNarration that describes how a woman's son asks her this question after seeing the records he just bought.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* This is Apollo's reaction in "A Present for Mom" on ''Series/ThePajanimals'' when Mr. Happy Birthday offers him a jazz record as a present for the Pajanimals mom's birthday.
[[/folder]]

* Spider-Man 2099 in ''VideoGame/SpiderManEdgeOfTime''. Apparently there aren't even ''toasters'' in the future.

* Happens with LetsPlay/TheCreatures in one of their game nights. While playing a video game version of ''Series/FamilyFeud'', one of the questions was "Name something someone would plug in." [[LetsPlay/UberHaxorNova Nova]] enters "VCR" and is annoyed when he receives zero points for that answer, claiming that people still own VCR's even if they're not popular anymore.
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26eQ3QpNB6Q This]] [=BuzzFeed=] video explains the concept of VHS and brick-and-mortar video stores in a way that assumes that today's kids only know about Netflix and other streaming services.
* ''WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment'' occasionally reviews old computer games, prompting Spoony to explain to the youngsters what things like floppy disks and [=BBSs=] were.
* [[WebVideo/{{React}} Kids React To...]] (and occasionally ''Teens React'') demonstrates this trope with things like [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCp8g-VjOs the first Gameboy,]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uk_vV-JRZ6E Walkmans]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfxRfkZdiAQ Typewriters,]] among other things. This noticeably subverts the trope fairly often, as many of the kids and teens (even as young as 6 years old) recognize the items and their function through PopCultureOsmosis or having them in their families and just need some coaxing to figure out the details of using them.
* ''Website/TheOnion'':
** ''The Onion'' as a video satire called [[http://www.theonion.com/video/historic-blockbuster-store-offers-glimpse-of-how-m,14233 "Historic ‘Blockbuster’ Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past"]] with all the actors playing out this trope.
** Lampshaded in a profile of the year's incoming freshman college students: "Chalkboards, paper books, and VHS tapes are all items they’ve been told they don’t remember or recognize."
* The Music/NewOrder documentary podcast ''Transmissions'' takes a detour during the "Blue Monday" episode to quite patronisingly explain what a 12" single is, to people sufficiently interested in New Order to actively seek out a podcast about their most famous 12" record - exactly the sort of audience who do ''not'' need it explained. Despite several references, they ''don't'' do the same for floppy disks, a technology it's more plausible to suppose listeners might be unfamiliar with.
* ''WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier'' had a gag where Fred explains what a newspaper is to the younger members of the audience, with Seb asking if he could possibly make it any more condescending.

* ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'':
** One of the earliest uses of this trope was an episode entitled "The Record Breakers,": Jon was trying to impress a potential date with his record collection but lacked a record player to actually play them with (due to Garfield and Odie inadvertently breaking it). [[SerialEscalation She didn't know what records were; unfortunately, neither did the clerk at the electronics store. The antiques dealer needed a hint.]] Note: Said dealer was an old man who was a kid the last time he listened to a record and he only listened because his ''grandfather'' introduced him to them.
** A similar situation occurred when Jon went to buy a new wastebasket and tried to pay with cash (he'd cut up all his credit cards after Garfield had abused them one time too many). The clerk had no idea what ''paper money'' was... and, as it turns out, ''no one'' would accept cash as legal tender (even the ''police'' had to take the money to a lab to verify that it was, in fact, money). Blatantly obvious ArtisticLicenseEconomics in service of RuleOfFunny.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Rugrats}}'' averted this, as Chuckie could sometimes be seen playing records (like in "Down the Drain" and "Chuckie's Bachelor Pad"), and Angelica was seen [[VinylShatters breaking Chuckie's records for kicks]] in "Give and Take." Then again the series takes place in the early to late 1990s, not too long after records began being displaced.
* Inverted by Mayor on ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls'', who tries to play a CD on an old-fashioned record player (and proceeds to mistake the horrible scratching noises that ensue for "techno music").

* Used liberally in ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' pretty much anytime old technology is mentioned or found.
-->'''Professor Farnsworth:''' Show us this... "The Wheel".

* One episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' had the Turtles take cover behind a stack of boxes. Raphael looks into the boxes and the following conversation takes place:
-->'''Raphael:''' Donatello, what are these?
-->'''Donatello:''' They're records. They're what people used to listen to before they had compact discs.
-->'''Michaelangelo:''' Whoa! Someone really burned these pizzas!
* In ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', the grandmother gave Kim's younger brothers a collection of vinyl records. This was played with: they knew what the records were, and were excited to receive them.
-->'''First twin:''' Wow, vinyl records! The legends were true!
-->'''Second twin:''' C'mon, let's burn them into [=MP3s=]!
* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
** In "Quick Shot Ed": The Eds are rummaging through Eddy's attic, Ed finds a 7-inch 45rpm record and says: "I found a donut!" Eddy corrects him and says: "That's a record, chowderhead."
** Eddy has a turntable in his bedroom and is frequently seen playing records. His knowledge of everything is a bit... off.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Just Another Manic-Kahn Day", Bobby and Joseph find a box of Hank's old record albums. Bobby knows what they are but Joseph picks up a record and says: "The computer these things go into must be huge!"

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' has Cyborg tell the other Titans they couldn't program a VCR...and being the ''Teen'' Titans, none of the others have any idea what a VCR is. Starfire (being an alien) and Beast Boy (being the youngest) have excuses but Robin at least seems old enough that he should know what they are. RuleOfFunny is obviously the reason why.

* Averted on ''WesternAnimation/PeppaPig''. When Peppa and her little brother George find a record player in Granny and Grandpa's attic, both seem to immediately recognize it for what it is and Peppa asks them to play the record they found with it.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheMrPeabodyAndShermanShow'', Peabody tries to do a show about his vinyl record collection, but Sherman has no idea what he's talking about and assumed the episode was about world records instead.
-->'''Sherman''': What's a vinyl record?\\
'''Peabody''': It's like a CD!\\
'''Sherman''': What's a CD?
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Also in Season 13 episode "Gump Roast", at Homer Simpson's roast, Krusty begins reading telegrams from people who couldn't be there:
--->'''Krusty:''' Now I'd like to read some telegrams from people who couldn't make it. First, we have Mark Spitz.\\
'''Lisa:''' Who's Mark Spitz?\\
'''Bart:''' What's a telegram?
** In a Season 27 episode, Bart and Lisa find a pile of old cathode tube television sets and say that "they're like [=TVs=], but they seem to go on forever." Ironically, they're like the TV the Simpsons used to have in earlier seasons.
** In "The Sound of Bleeding Gums" (Season 33), Lisa learns that her late mentor, Bleeding Gums Murphy, has a son she never knew about, and his spirit advises her to look him up in the phone book.
--->'''Lisa:''' What's a phone book?
--->'''Bleeding Gums:''' I ''have'' been dead a long time.
* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'':
** The 6-11 year old KO runs into a phone booth to make a call. He says "What the heck is this thing?" towards the phone then pulls out his smartphone.
** Later on, he asks Rad what a newspaper is when he sees Enid reading one. Except he knew what it was, and just liked messing with "old people".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'' episode "Paraducks", Darkwing and Gosalyn are trying to find a villain in a record store, and Gosalyn asks, "What are records? Are they big [=CDs=]?"
* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "The Ghouls", Alan and Leslie find a videotape at a park and pick it up, reading "It could be the last thing you ever watch"; Alan is more concerned because of littering. They initially mistake it for a book made of plastic ribbon, and try to use it as a yo-yo, until a [[Literature/TheRing Samara]] {{Expy}} has to explain everything for them, and leads them to their school's art room which has a VCR. This ignorance is [[RuleOfFunny purely for this sake of this one scene]], as video tapes have been shown being used regularly in their class and a whole previous episode was based on the kids recording things with a tape-based camera.
* Averted in an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' where [[BabysittingEpisode Daria is saddled with a babysitting gig.]] In one scene, the kids are listening to an old record about bouncing on the bed and singing along. [[note]]This episode aired in 1997 and the kids aren't even ten yet.[[/note]] Daria notes how badly scratched the record is and asks why their parents just buy them the [=CD=].
-->'''Tad Gupty:''' Compact discs were forced upon consumers so that record companies could increase their profit margins.
-->'''Daria:''' [[SarcasmMode That's important for a six-year-old to know.]]
* On ''Literature/LlamaLlama'', when the band cancels for Grams's birthday party in "Band Together" due to having the flu, Mama Llama tells Llama Llama that they'll play Grams's favorite song on an old-school vinyl or a [=CD=]. Llama asks what those are; she chuckles and describes them as "ancient technology, but they'll play the kind of music we're looking for."
* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Done in a ChristmasEpisode when the Park Crew have to make their way through some caverns and get past the challenges. At one point they come across an old pinball table that they need to play to continue. Oddly Mordecai and Rigby don't know what it is despite being avid gamers and arcade goers (In fact pinball is still a thriving market even at the time of the episode's airing), but Benson says it was "something before their time" and takes up the challenge.
* In "Olivia Makes Memories" from ''WesternAnimation/{{Olivia}}'', Olivia and her brother Ian find their Grandma's time capsule. Grandma discovers that the camera in it still has film in it and tells Olivia as much, and Olivia asks her "What's film?" She is then shocked when Grandma tells her that she has to wait two minutes for it to develop.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'' episdoe "Fort in the Road", after the Planters finds some sort of hidden factory, the ancient computer there keeps asking them to "insert disk", which confuses everyone there.
-->'''Computer:''' INSERT DISK. INSERT DISK...
-->'''Sprig:''' Anne, what the heck is a disk!?
-->'''Anne:''' I don't know! [[TrappedInAnotherWorld I'm from another dimension,]] not the 90s!
* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndGuessWho'': In "The Internet on Haunted House Hill!", when Velma says the titular house is haunted by the ghost of a guy who used to run a newspaper, Scooby asks what newspapers are.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}}'': Lloyd (the youngest of the group) doesn't know what a VCR is called, but recognizes it on sight as "That thing Master Wu watches old ninja movies on" and knows how to work it.
* ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouseClubhouse'': One episode has Mickey and his friends discover a cave that holds a giant golden record inside, thus making the cave "a big old record player". When Goofy asks what a record player is, Mickey describes it as an "ancient machine".

* The comic strip ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' did this once. In fact, the example in the trope description exactly matches the dialogue of the strip in question. Also seen in ''ComicStrip/{{Zits}}'', ''ComicStrip/{{Blondie}}'', and ''ComicStrip/DennisTheMenaceUS''.
* Related: A ''ComicStrip/MyCage'' strip involved Norm getting weird looks for having a portable CD player with him at the gym instead of an [=MP3=] player.

* [[http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1953/03/01 This]] old ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' strip would be a DoubleSubversion of this trope [[UnbuiltTrope had it existed then]]. It's from 1953, so records are still quite relevant, the joke is that the song ''on'' the record references rocking chairs but Charlie Brown and Patty are in a living room filled with that was at the time modern living room furniture: a butterfly chair, a lounger, and an armless swivel chair. They don't know what a rocking chair is.

* This [[https://www.offthemark.com/cartoon/technology-computers/telecommunication-phone/2012-03-05 Off the Mark panel cartoon]] shows two anthropomorphic smartphones looking through a house window at an old corded landline phone, saying, "They say she never leaves the house."

* Played for laughs in [[http://www.deviantart.com/art/G1-Pony-Misc-378312580 this]] ''Franchise/MyLittlePony'' comic. G1 pony Twirler had records as her symbol. A random baby pony mistakes them for [=CDs=], which she implies are something of the past as well.

* Briefly discussed in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''. Future Trunks has [[ItMakesSenseInContext never heard country music before]] and doesn't know what a fax machine is. Pretty much everyone raises their eyebrows at the former, while Krillin comments that the latter at least makes sense. It turns out that in his BadFuture, the Androids went out of their way to destroy all country music out.

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* In ''Honey We Shrunk Ourselves'' (a straight-to-video sequel to ''Film/HoneyIShrunkTheKids''), Wayne Szalinski describes the gramophone to his son as "an early record player". He then has to clarify that the record player was "an early CD player".

* In ''Film/NightworldLostSouls'', Victor and his son Jesse discover an old device in a disused room. Victor comments, "Looks like an old phonograph." Jesse says, "What's that?" Victor says, "An old record player." Jesse says, "What's that?" Victor says, "Never mind."

* In ''Literature/TheManyHalfLivedLivesOfSamSylvester'', Sam's dad finds a TimeCapsule containing cassette tapes, which Shep has never heard of. She says dubiously, "That really plays music?"

* ''Series/TowerPrep'' showed where this trend might be going. When they find a record, CJ and Suki ask what it is. Gabe responds that "it's kind of like a hard copy of a [=MP3.=]" Never once were CD's mentioned, showing that CD's might quickly become the new records.
%%* Used in ''Series/MyFamily''.
* ''Series/HomeImprovement'':
** In an episode Jill offers the boys "her old 45s" for a party, to which one of them responds; "You're giving us guns?"
** In another episode: Brad calls a record player a "machine that plays the black round things that spin", Tim corrects him and later Mark tells Tim that he read about record players in his history class.
* An early example: ''Series/MarriedWithChildren''. When Kelly asks "What's a record?" Bud's response is, "For you? [[ReallyGetsAround The second date]]."
* Cliff Huxtable in ''Series/TheCosbyShow'' does a variation on this. Cliff has a huge collection of old jazz records that he keeps in his basement as a form of "offspring repellent". If the kids come down there, he invites them to listen to his jazz records. They always refuse and run away.
* Inverted in an episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' where a man has just awoken from a vegetative state after ten years and asks what an "Ip-odd" is.
* Joey in ''Series/MyTwoDads'' is trying to show the kids at a party thrown for his daughter that he's still cool. He refers to his Beatles album, to which two of the kids at the party reply with "Beatles?" and "''Album''?" as if they'd never heard either term before. CD's were still freshly popular at the time, not to mention that "album" usually means "collection of songs", and not "vinyl recording." Kids were still calling them "albums" even after CD's became popular. Not to mention that there probably has never been a time since the late 60's that the Beatles ''weren't'' considered one of the greatest bands of all time, even by those who have never listened to them. The idea of teenagers in the 80's who had never heard of the Beatles is laughable.
* In ''Series/MyWifeAndKids'' the children are genuinely stunned and amazed that Michael was able to turn on the TV by pressing buttons on it rather than use the remote, even asking how he did it.

* In ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' serial "The Man Who Never Was", Sarah Jane's old editor tells her kids he still uses a typewriter. Sky's response is an innocent "What's a typewriter?" {{Justified}} because Sky was born circa 2011 and aged up by phlebotinum.
* The week of Valentine's Day in 2012 had an 80s themed week for the UK ''Series/DealOrNoDeal''. It featured an interesting twist involving a cassette necklace. According to Noel Edmonds, this could have been a problem to younger viewers who wouldn't know what cassettes were.
* In an episode of ''Series/VeronicaMars'' that aired in 2006, Veronica expresses surprise that "they still make vinyl". Piz tells her that they still put out dance music on vinyl, but being a record collector, he should know that vinyl was and is more extensive than that. In a previous episode he was seen with a copy of ''London Calling'' by Music/TheClash, which he said was unscratched and cost him 99c, which implies it's an original pressing, but the cover is a little ''too'' pristine not to be new, which means the writers didn't have an excuse for their ignorance either.

* This is starting to be a RunningGag on ''Series/{{Revolution}}'', since the younger generation is almost wholly ignorant of pre-Blackout culture. When [[DeadpanSnarker Miles]] comments on Jason's "boyband face", Jason asks what a boyband is. Later on in the second season, Charlie is baffled to learn that granola bars were considered food.
* In the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' episode "Power Down," a blackout forces the team to work with less advanced technology than they're used to. This includes a device called a mimeograph (not stated in dialogue), an old-style photocopier that only Gibbs knows how to use.
* An UnbuiltTrope variant: there was a ''Series/NotTheNineOClockNews'' sketch, back in the days when everyone knew what records were, that had the staff in an electronics store laughing at a man who wanted to buy a gramophone.

* In the ''Series/HenryDanger'' episode "Indestructible Henry, Part 1", Ray gives Henry and Charlotte an old VCR tape to watch, and both of them try to find the on button on the tape until realizing they can't even find a screen. Henry then believes that the reels are what you look into.

* In ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'', while Coulson is explaining a [[GroundhogDayLoop time loop]] the team is trapped in:
-->'''Coulson:''' The time-drive is stuck. It keeps looping back on itself over and over again.
-->'''Daisy:''' Like feedback.
-->'''Coulson:''' I've been thinking about it like a record skipping.
-->''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lShTjR8NybQ&t=91 (Daisy gives him a condescending head tilt)]]''
-->'''Coulson:''' Every time I say that, you give me the same look. Vinyl's back! You're supposed to know records again.
-->''(the loop restarts again)''

* ''Series/LockeAndKey2020'': In season 2, Duncan and Bode come upon Rendell's old cassette tape collection.
-->'''Bode''': What are they?\\
'''Duncan''': Seriously? These are what cavemen like your dad and me used to listen to music on.\\
'''Bode''': Oh, are they... what did you call them... iPods?
* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. Faye Valentine looks in her Identikit, which stores any records of her past, finds only a VHS tape, and says: "What the fuck are you?" Fortunately, unlike the anime, Spike and Jet appear to have no problem getting hold of a machine that can play it.

* Some ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' fanart uses this as the premise of a joke by having Sanae (who was in high school when she crossed over to Gensokyo) explain modern technology to other residents... and be a victim of it herself on occasion when confronted by more recent arrivals (case in point, [[https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts/5215835 a 2022 picture where she considers the 16-year-old Wii to be recent]]).

* ''Series/CowboyBebop2021''. Faye Valentine looks in her Identikit which stores any records of her past, finds only a VHS tape and says: "What the fuck are you?" Fortunately unlike the anime Spike and Jet appear to have no problem getting hold of a machine that can play it.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B53b2umtysc "Generational Divide"]], courtesy of WebVideo/FiveSecondFilms.

** ''The Onion'' as a video satire called "[[http://www.theonion.com/video/historic-blockbuster-store-offers-glimpse-of-how-m,14233/ Historic ‘Blockbuster’ Store Offers Glimpse Of How Movies Were Rented In The Past]]" with all the actors playing out this trope.

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' when [[http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=005630 Terezi places a record-themed CD on a gramophone,]] causing it to scratch.

* Spider-Man 2099 in ''VideoGame/SpidermanEdgeOfTime''. Apparently there aren't even ''toasters'' in the future.

* Some ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' fanart uses this as the premise of a joke by having Sanae (who was in high school when she crossed over to Gensokyo) explain modern technology to other residents... and be a victim of it herself on occasion when confronted by more recent arrivals (case in point, [[https://safebooru.donmai.us/posts/5215835 a 2022 picture where she considers the 16-year-old Wii to be recent]]).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In a story from Issue #32, Dot invites some girls for a slumber party and tries to offer records for entertainment but her guests, not being cartoon characters from old times like her, don't know what records are.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "The Ghouls", Alan and Leslie find a videotape at a park and pick it up, reading "It could be the last thing you ever watch"; Alan is more concerned because of littering. They initially mistake it for a book made of plastic ribbon, and try to use it as a yo-yo, until a [[Literature/TheRing Samara]] {{Expy}} has to explain everything for them, and leads them to their school's art room which has a VCR. This ignorance is [[RuleOfFunny purely for this sake of this one scene]], as video tapes have been shown being used regularly in their class. Even weirder, "The Ghouls"is a season six episode, where the second season episode "The Tape" is all about them messing up with a camera.

* Spider-Man 2099 in ''VideoGame/SpidermanEdgeOfTime'' takes this UpToEleven when he and Amazing Spider-Man talk. Apparently there aren't even ''toasters'' in the future.

** Also, Linda seems to be the ''[[{{UpToEleven}} only]]'' person in the entire Tri-State Area who remembers analog and disposable still cameras.

* WebVideo/Techmoan once mentioned in a video that he is often asked why the cassette decks he features sometimes have a backwards play button and the the fast forward and rewind symbols reversed, and occasionally even had people assume that the buttons had been removed and installed incorrectly and asking how to flip them back. He then explained that the reason those buttons are arrows is because they originally indicated what direction the tape moves in. Some early decks featured the tapes moving the "wrong" way and others flipped the deck upside down so the buttons could sit at the top of the device.

* Briefly discussed in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''. Future Trunks has [[ItMakesSenseInContext never heard country music before]] and doesn't know what a fax machine is. Pretty much everyone raises their eyebrows at the former, while Krillin comments that the latter at least makes sense. It turns out that in his bad future, the Androids went out of their way to destroy all country music out.

* The infamous [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3S5BLs51yDQ "What's a computer?"]] ad for Apple's iPad Pro. Made especially [[{{Narm}} Narmy]] because the girl is ''at least'' in her mid-teens, making some sort of trauma-induced amnesia the only possible excuse for her not knowing.

* In a Season 27 episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Bart and Lisa find a pile of old cathode tube television sets and say that "they're like [=TVs=], but they seem to go on forever." Ironically, they're like the [=TV=] the Simpsons used to have in earlier seasons.

-->'''Krusty:''' Now I'd like to read some telegrams from people who couldn't make it. First, we have Mark Spitz.\\

* A number of college professors have found themselves in the habit of having to [[https://www.pcgamer.com/students-dont-know-what-files-and-folders-are-professors-say/ explain]] to their students the concept of ''computer files and folders'', since the rise of powerful search functions on desktop OS and mobile devices where users have obscured or limited access to the device's file system have removed the need for any file organization.

* Briefly discussed in ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged''. Future Trunks has [[ItMakesSenseInContext never heard country music before]] and doesn't know what a fax machine is. Pretty much everyone raises their eyebrows at the former, while Krillin comments that the latter at least makes sense.