If You Grew Up in the ’80s, You Had These at Home

After our look at the forgotten everyday items of the 1970s — remember the rabbit ears, the pull tabs, and other “You did what with what?” things that would confuse the heck out of Gen Zers today — it only felt right that would keep the time machine grooving and Jazzercize ourselves into the 1980s.

The 1980s: Still Analog, Suddenly Flashy

If the ’70s were the era of brown-and-amber practical stuff, the ’80s were the decade that decided everyday should be louder and preferably with a really good beat. Things generally were still analog enough that you rewound tapes and lived by the landline (can you imagine?), but really shiny enough to feel like the future had officially arrived.

READ MORE: Can You Name These ’80s Music Videos From One Frame?

In our “Everyday Life in the 1980s” gallery, we zoomed out to the real-life scenes — malls, arcades, parking lots full of sedans, and breaking away from the stereo with the Walkman. Now we’re zooming in on all the stuff: the objects that sat on kitchen counters, hung on the wall, lived in backpacks, and cluttered up living rooms in the coziest, most nostalgic way.

While the ’80s might be most defined by the music and movies, they were also very much a “things” decade. More plastic. More gadgets. Way more buttons. There was more to collect, clip, stack, swap, and show off. And while all of it seemed totally normal at the time, today it all feels like a perfectly preserved time capsule from a louder, brighter, button-filled decade.