Image of a phone with an icon showing actual map and icon showing an actual camera
Christine Balderas/Getty Images (Map); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)
Infographic,

Life Before Smartphones

We can find out almost anything with a smartphone. But it hasn’t always been this way. What did we use 40 years ago?

From the February 2024 Issue
Featured Skill: Text Features,
Common Core Standards
  • RI.2.4 Vocabulary
TEKS Standards
  • Social Studies
    Infographic: Life Before Smart Phones Social Studies (13) Science, technology, and society. The student understands how science and technology have affected life, past and present. The student is expected to: (A) describe how science and technology have affected communication, transportation, and recreation (B) explain how science and technology have affected the ways in which people meet basic needs
  • English Language Arts
    (9) Multiple genres: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts—genres. The student recognizes and analyzes genre-specific characteristics, structures, and purposes within and across increasingly complex traditional, contemporary, classical, and diverse texts. The student is expected to: (D) recognize characteristics and structures of informational text, including: (ii) features and graphics to locate and gain information

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Christine Balderas/Getty Images (Map); Sony (Walkman); Shutterstock.com (All Other Images)

Maps

You needed a paper map if you were going somewhere new.

Weather

Was it going to rain? You had to watch the news on TV, listen to the radio, or read the newspaper to find out.

Pay Phones

You used a pay phone if you were out and had to call someone. You needed to put coins in it first.

Cameras

You used a camera with a roll of film to take pictures. Then you dropped off the film at a store. You picked up the pictures a few days later.

Music

If you wanted to listen to music on the go, you needed a Walkman and a cassette tape.

Information

Did you want to look something up? There was no Google. You could go to the library. You could look in encyclopedias. Those are big books with facts about many topics.

Text-to-Speech