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I recently stumbled across an article on the Guardian and Sunday Times in which a survey revealed that 65% out of those aged 25 to 34 hardly ever use a pen. And those who do only ever use it to write brief little post-it notes - most often at work.
Interestingly enough many of those that were surveyed have also revealed that their handwriting has deteriorated over the years due to infrequent use of putting pen to paper.
With technology making so many things much more easier and accessible - for example, many shops have digital tablets on which to sign fter a purchase - it’s easy to see why people rarely even keep pens on them anymore.
I’m feeling decidedly sad about this.
Perhaps it’s because I consider myself a bit of an old soul, or the fact that I have pen pals and still enjoy the art of longhand letters (combined with an obsession with all sorts of stationery supplies that add colour and creativity to those letters).
Either way, I find it tragic and rather lazy that technology has become the predominant form of communicating. I love technology as much as anyone else, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t get sentimental about the past.
And it turns out that wanting a little nostalgia in my life isn’t a case of me being an anomaly - according to a piece on Forbes.com, there’s power in nostalgic advertising. In other words, what was old has in many ways become new again.
READ MORE:The Japanese have a great secret to making your day happier
Drive in cinema/ the bioscope
While there are selected places in and around South Africa that offer open air cinema and drive through movie experiences, it still feels rather niche when you compare it to the movie experiences at malls.
Yes those movies offer exciting 3D and 4D experiences, but there’s a lot of joy in grabbing a picnic basket and sitting outside watching a movie on a big projector. A while back, I went with some friends to watch Amelie at Kirstenbosch garden.
The night was just the right side of cool and people had the option of taking their own blankets with or purchasing seats. I definitely want to experience more of that.
Tamagotchis
Listen, you can’t tell me that you weren’t expecting this to be included in this list.
Almost everyone I knew had one or more of these babies. They weren’t just fun, but in its own way, Tamagotchis kind of taught us that raising and looking after a pet requires care, attention, time and responsibility.
And I’m not afraid to say that my adult self wants to play with one again.
I’m not sure if these babies are still available locally, but you can order them from international website, Wish.com.
READ MORE: We collect stickers, colouring books and figurines - and no, we're not 5 or 75 years old
Push pops
A popular lollipop in a cylindrical container - push pops were fun snacks that almost doubled up as a toy because of its retractable feature.
I devoured these sweets like mad during my primary and mid high school years, but I imagine they’d be pretty expensive if they had to be rereleased and distributed here again.
Of course the joy of sweets like these is that even if you don’t find them in major retail stores, you’re likely to find them at shops like Sweets from Heaven, where they stock everything from local snacks to imported sweets.
It does often mean you’ll pay more though.
Those shiny and glittery butterfly hair clips
I was obsessed with these clips. While I couldn’t wear them at school, over weekends I was that girl who tried to wear almost all of them at once (I’m not even sorry).
I mainly loved them because they were so colourful and the wings would often flutter while I had them in my hair. My inner hippie would love to get hold of some of them again.
The slippery slide
Ah this was perfect for those hot days of summer and you didn’t have a pool. Running down your lawn and flopping on your belly to slide down a stream of water was an excercise in fun (and sometimes injuries).
Of course, water restrictions mean that we wouldn’t be able to bring this back just yet, but that doesn’t stop us from hoping we’d be able to see our little nieces and nephews enjoying this someday again.
The one thing that shouldn’t come back…
Naturally there are some things that should stay in the past - the one biggest being dial-up internet. Remember the time when you had to wait for your mother to get off the phone so you could connect to the internet?
Yeah no, that would definitely be like going back to the dark ages.
