8 things every household had in the 70s and 80s that children today wouldn't understand

• They were found in almost every home during the 70s and 80s
• But changing tastes and new technology have rendered them relics
• You may recognise these household goods, but would your children or grandchildren?

From the bathroom to the bedroom, they are household goods that everyone of a certain age will recognise.

But they might leave anyone born in the 90s or later, who hasn’t studied the period details in Stranger Things, feeling bemused.

These items could be found in almost every home during the 70s and 80s.

But even if younger people know what they are, things have changed so much that they may struggle to understand why we ever needed them.

How many of these things did you have in your home during the 70s or 80s, and would your children or grandchildren know what they were for?

Alarm clock

Yes, young people might recognise an alarm clock, but they’d probably question why anyone would need one.

Before mobile phones, however, they were essential if you wanted to make it to work or school on time.

The bigger the snooze button the better, of course.

Hi-fi system

A hi-fi system with twin cassette decks used to take pride of place in most living rooms, and it was often a case of the bigger the better, before the way we listen to music changed.

These days, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth mean all you need are some speakers to play your favourite tracks.

Ironically, the viny revival means young people today are more likely to be familiar with a record player than they are with a stereo system.

Magazine rack

Back in the days when a copy of the Radio Times was essential, and the newspaper and magazine industry was still booming, there was a magazine rack beside every sofa or armchair.

Potpourri

If you’re too young to remember the days when every bathroom had a bowl of potpourri, you might wonder why someone had left a pile of dead leaves lying around.

Potpourri was used back in the day to mask all kinds of unpleasant odours, before households moved on to plug-in air fresheners.

The trouble was that after sitting there forgotten for a few weeks, gathering dust, the aroma had usually dissipated so much that you’d have been as well off having a bowl of cardboard.

Doilies

If you’re old enough, you’ll remember a time when seemingly no surface was without a doily.

They were used to protect everything from the dining table to the arms of your sofa.

They weren’t exactly the height of fashion in the 70s or 80s, but they were still commonplace.

Rolodex

Before we stored everything on our computers and phones, a Rolodex was essential for keeping your contacts close to hand.

These carousel desktop devices, allowing users to easily flick through hundreds of phone numbers and addresses stored on cards, were rendered redundant first by personal digital assistants (PDAs) and then by smartphones.

If you didn't have a Rolodex, you probably had a Filofax, which was essentially a fancy address book and diary in one.

Shower connecter

Before mixer taps and power showers were commonplace, many people used these strange-looking devices to connect their hot and cold taps to a shower head.

They worked fine until one end fell off, and you were either scalded or got an arctic blast.

Floppy disk

The floppy disk was invented in 1971, but it wasn’t until the 80s that computers started to become a common feature in people’s homes.

It was the go-to storage solution for many years, until the CD-ROM came along, followed by USB flash drives and then the cloud.

Most people born after the turn of the millennium have probably never seen one, let alone used one, and may not even recognise a floppy disk.

There is a story doing the rounds that a millennial found a floppy disk in an office and said ‘OMG, you 3D printed the save icon’. Whether that actually happened is anyone’s guess, but the fact that it’s believable shows how quickly technology moves on.

Did this trip down memory lane leave you pining for the 70s and 80s? For more nostalgia from that era, check out our look back at the things you’ll remember doing if you grew up back then.