People buy retro tech for all sorts of reasons. They might find it simpler and easier to use or get a good feeling using something from their childhood. For younger people, there can be a fascination with using things that their parents or grandparents grew up with. However, some people argue that retro tech is retro for a reason. Time moves on and technology has developed to offer us more sophisticated devices. For example, before music streaming services became popular, people mostly relied on CDs to play music, but they had to put a new CD on if they wanted to listen to a different album. Now, they can just pick and choose songs from a massive online library. Despite this convenience, plenty of people still prefer using old-fashioned technology. What's your view? Is retro tech better than modern tech?
Yes – retro tech is much more personal In some ways, retro tech can feel more personal than modern devices. If you use DVDs, for example, you can build up a collection of all your favourite movies that's unique to you, rather than just picking films to watch using an online streaming service. With retro tech, you actually own something physical and it can be fun to show your collection to friends. Also, it's exciting to play around with tech that your parents and grandparents would have used, and it helps you to understand how things have changed over the years. Plus, the simplicity of some retro items can appeal to people – modern devices aren't always all that brilliant. If you're playing video games on old consoles that don't connect to the internet, you'll never have to wait for updates to be completed.
No – modern tech is more convenient Modern tech has plenty of benefits. If it didn't, then people wouldn't have invented it. Why go to the trouble of paying for individual DVDs and putting them in a DVD player, when you can just use a streaming service to access a seemingly endless number of movies? Plus, if a DVD or CD is accidentally scratched, it could become unusable. When people use modern tech, they have a much better experience. For example, the cameras that a lot of people have on their mobile phones can take better photographs than many old-fashioned cameras, and you can access the photos straight away, without having to get them printed out. Collecting retro tech can be expensive too. For example, vinyl records, which play music, cost more than £10 each.
