The first time you ever heard about something that is now commonplace

[CormoranStrike]

I have two.

I was chatting to a guy who had an audio company in the early 90s I reckon and he mentioned Bluetooth, which confused me. He raved about this new tech and said he was sure it would be massive.

The other was interviewing a forensic scientist on his retiral from the police. He had been the most senior of his speciality at Lockerbie.

He was explaining transference (Occam’s razor) and I can remember sitting on his couch in his living room in the small village he lived in and saying, “wait, do you mean evidence of me having been in your house is now indelibly here, I’ve left traces?” - totally fascinating.

There started a fascination with crime novels, too.

[MorningsEleven]

Fortnite. I thought it was nit treatment.

[DryHeave]

My dad, probably 20 years ago now, saying “you should use this search engine called Google, it’s quite good.”

[ChodeofChodeHall]

I remember seeing a conveyor belt sushi place on a Newsround piece about Japan. I thought it was hilarious and couldn't believe anyone would eat raw fish.

[sodabreadjam]

DM telling me about computer viruses. We were suspecting she had the beginnings of dementia at the time and I thought this was an example of her being completely confused because it sounded so far-fetched.

[Titsywoo]

The internet. I think it was 1997 and my geeky friend said he was going to a place called an internet cafe and showed me how to use it. I thought it was ok and mainly chatted to weirdos - I'm not sure what on, it wasn't forums it was some kind of messaging thing. I didn't understand search engines so thought I had to type www."the thing I wanted to search for".com

[IWantToFindMySchmidt]

I remember watching Greys' Anatomy and Cristina was listening to a very early iPod!

[CoolAsACourgette]

I remember sending my SiL a picture of me with my baby son in early 2013. She replied 'cute selfie!'. I thought she'd made up the word......

[neddle]

I remember trying to connect to the internet on my school’s library computer around 1994.
I’d got a floppy disc that came as a freebie on a computer magazine but didn’t realise I’d need a phone line too.
Finally got connected at uni in 1996 when you would just message random people purely because they also had the internet.
I couldn’t have even imagined back then about smart phones and watches with internet capabilities.

[AlwaysWantedToBeATenenbaum]

Nando’s! We didn’t have any in the part of Scotland I’m from - I was down in Cambridge studying on a distance learning type thing. My classmates all fancied this place called Nando’s and we’re surprised I’d never heard of it! A couple of weeks after I’d gotten back one opened up in the main shopping centre near where I live!!!

[Whatififall]

1997/98, i’d just started college and one of the boys I was with made a geeky new friend who told us both about the internet, he took us to the college library and showed us how to use it. The fact you could literally search for anything and get it blew my mind. So much so I couldn’t think of anything to look up 😂

[CormoranStrike]

Oh yes. I remember explaining the internet to my mum and her having no ide how I would k ow web addresses.

“How can you just guess what the BBC’s address is, how do you know Vauxhall might have co.uk behind it, and why does a typo in a web address matter?”

[PierreBezukov]

My lecturer at uni told me that one day we'd all be listening to music on our phones. I thought it sounded a bit far-fetched.

And years before that, my dad telling me about a new thing called the World Wide Web (twas what we used to call the internet) and trying to explain that you could type questions into it and people around the world would answer them. I thought he was mad.

[PierreBezukov]

My sister and brother-in-law were amazed that I hadn't heard of Ted Talks. This was fairly recently.

[CormoranStrike]

TBF I have heard of ted talks but I have never actually heard one.

[SoleBizzz]

Internet in 1988, in computer studies class.

[nancybelle]

Mobile phones. It was circa 1990 and a friend of mine at school had a much older boyfriend who had one. We were around 14 and he was in his twenties with this giant brick of a thing. Mind blowing but if I had been told then that they would be mini computers by the time I got to my 40s I wouldn’t have believed it.

[JustanotherCHRISTMASuser01]

cars that could park themselves. I thought somebody was well and truly pulling my leg.

[lightlypoached]

Hearing about streaming video and films to your home via cable. In 1991 at a technology conference.

[PinkFizzz]

What's Ted Talks?

[MawkishTwaddle]

XH used to be an aircraft engineer. When we were going out, I remember him telling me about this amazing new technology he was fitting to planes that communicated with satellites to place the plane anywhere in the world. That was about twenty five years ago...

Satnav.

[Shenanagins]

I’ve just had to google ted talks 😀

[Bathbombs]

Facebook, you tube and catch up tv.
Couldn’t see the point of any of them!

[ivykaty44]

A friend explain they were working on a system where when someone phoned, there would be a screen to show the number calling you. This was when landlines were still all the rage!

[BartonHollow]

This will out if my cousin sees it but years ago my Uncle told me we would one day be able to access the internet via our TVs

It was about 2000

And I was like Uncle Barton

As if that's going to happen and even if it did, how fucking useless, why would you even need to?

Now I live on Netflix

I've fessed up to him though

[BarbaraofSevillle]

Just now. Apparently now it is totally normal that you shouldn't speak to someone if they are texting or whatsapping with someone because it is considered to be interrupting a conversation by taking the attention of the person you are with away from their phone. I had no idea.

I remember trying to explain the 'pause live TV' function to DM. She couldn't get her head round the fact that if she pressed pause so she could answer the phone, door etc that the entire country wouldn't be waiting for her to unpause the TV so they could all get back to Coronation Street.