9 things everyone used in the 60s and 70s that Millennials and Generation Z just don’t understand

• These items were everywhere in the 60s and 70s

• But they have fallen out of fashion or been replaced by more modern technology

• If you weren’t around in the 60s and 70s, you might struggle to recognise them

These once-common items were everywhere in the 60s and 70s. But they have faded from public life, either falling out of fashion or being replaced by modern technology.

So while you may worry about keeping up with the latest tech while others years younger than you are seemingly at ease with so many gadgets, you may find comfort in knowing that there are so many things we used to use - that the younger generations really don’t have a clue about.

With some outmoded items like typewriters, it’s fairly easy to guess what they were used for even if you’re seeing it for the first time.

Other old technologies have come back into fashion, like vinyl records.

But many millennials or Gen Zers might today struggle if asked to identify these old items.

1) Cassettes

Cassette tapes began replacing vinyl in the early 60s and were the most popular way to listen to music in the 70s and 80s, before being usurped by CDs.

While vinyl has made a comeback, the humble cassette is still waiting to be rediscovered by a new generation.

Most young people today would probably struggle to recognise a cassette, unless they’re fans of Stranger Things or other 80s shows, and they almost certainly wouldn’t know how to respool one.

2) Rabbit ear TV antennae

Before digital TV and streaming became the norm, analogue was king, and that meant you needed an antenna to watch TV.

Many people connected their set to a rooftop aerial, but others used the box-top rabbit ear TV antenna, with its two extending poles, to get the clearest, static-free picture.

3) Bumper jacks

Every driver used to know how to change a tyre, but it’s a dying skill these days.

Better quality tyres mean punctures are less common, and when they do happen, many drivers rely on the breakdown services.

Cars today often don’t even contain a spare tyre or a jack to raise the vehicle off the ground. Instead, many come with sealant and an air compressor.

Everyone used to recognise a car jack like the one above, or a bumper jack, which used to be the most common type, but how many people could identify one today?

4) Fondue sets

Fondues were a dinner party favourite in the 70s, with many households owning a set back then.

But dipping your food into a pot of molten cheese quickly went out of fashion, perhaps due to the social embarrassment of clashing forks or having to fish around for your lost chunk of bread.

Fondue sets did briefly make a comeback but how many young people today would recognise one?

5) CB radios

CB, or citizen band, radios were hugely popular in the 70s, even though their use only became legal in 1981.

Ironically, it was once they were legalised that their popularity waned, and today most people would struggle to identify one.

6) Rotary dial phones

Rotary dial phones were still commonplace in the 60s, before push-button phones became the norm.

Young people today might be baffled by the antiquated dialling system. Even old push-button landline phones bear little resemblance to the mobile phones most people use today.

7) Fax machines

Before email, text messages and WhatsApp, if you wanted to send a printed document or images to someone fast then the fax machine was your go to. They transmitted information over a telephone line by converting the document into electronic signals, which were then transmitted to another fax machine that reconstructs and prints a copy of the original. They were most popular towards the end of the 70s, 80s and 90s - most offices had one. But they are rarely seen today.

8) Mimeographs

This forerunner of the photocopier was still found in some offices and schools during the 60s and even the 70s.

Many pupils from that era still remember the distinctive smell of the machines and the copies they made.

Mimeographs worked by forcing ink through a stencil and onto a sheet. They could produce copies very quickly but the quality tended to decrease over time.

9) Overhead projectors

Many schools had an overhead projector by the end of the 70s, and they remained in widespread use into the late 90s and early noughties, before being replaced by new technology.

How many of these once common items do you remember using, and would your children or grandchildren know what they were for?