Do you remember using the end of a pencil to dial your rotary phone? Did you have an answering machines that used cassette tapes? Do you remember the annoyance of having your mouse connected to your computer? If you said yes to any of those questions, you should take a look at a YouTube channel called the Museum of Obsolete Objects.

The MOOO has fifteen videos about objects that once represented the cutting edge of technology and now are just collecting dust or filling landfills. In addition to a short description of the object, each video states when the object was developed and when it became obsolete.

Applications for Education
You could create some research assignments based on these videos. Have students pick an obsolete object then research that object’s influence on communication and culture in its time. Then have students pick a currently ubiquitous object like the iPad and ask them to make predictions as to how long that object will be relevant before becoming obsolete. Have students put those predictions into videos that they publish about the objects they think will become obsolete in their lifetimes.