Raider2187
24332
515
10
Apr 10, 2026 3:32 PM
Raider2187
24332
515
10
Malsommano
No it’s not it’s in my hand
symmetry7
The lady says - is that a miniature media bro in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?
CP3oh
"Our pockets were heavy but our souls were free."
dohcohv
But does it play video from a vinyl record?
I can't believe this was a real product.
PhilipJFryIII
Thats just Jake i think he's pretty swell
rbudrick
No, there are not multiple tape players and vcrs in my pocket.
0Steve0
I've seen this meme before, but what's the context of the original image?
TheLastCircusBunny
And you actually owned all of it and none of this stuff tracked your activities. Also, the user interfaces weren't reduced to a non-tactile touchscreen that can't be operated with cold, calloused fingers.
DdCno1
Renting expensive electronics like cameras and VCRs was actually quite common for a few decades, because some of them were firmly out of reach of many people otherwise. User interfaces were tactile, that's true, but it was common to have each button being laden with multiple functions and buttons being scattered across a device without any rhyme nor reason. Manuals were thick and absolutely necessary for complex devices like VCRs, even if you had experience with other devices of the same type.
stiklikegiant
I mean, if I called that man and facetimed him with my phone in my pocket, then yes, even that man's face is now in my pocket. Mind=blown.
nfer
/gallery/lovely-nYXqpuL#
MagnumRadhard
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1cDZyNXFkMWFxaGM4aDI3eWVwdzI0NDlrZTRoa3B5NXRvdmhjYmZydCZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/5wWf7GMbT1ZUGTDdTqM/200w.webp
Crispo
With current IA pretty much you have human in the pocket as well
Garwoodxx
Looks like Bob Sirot
WebDragonG3
and somehow either tries to advertise at me constantly or snoop on on what I am doing so it can more effectively advertise at me constantly. and all of it can kiss my steamed dragon patoot
IlIIII
I thought that was the zipper
joshuasplinth
Alan Tudyk……?
EssentialLurker
In my hand, not pocket.
CheeseCoffeeChests
I had a Sony mobile (not smart phone) that actually had a regular radio as long as you had the headphones plugged in as an antenna
cousteau
Many modern smartphones have a radio. (In fact I think the one I have now is the first one not to have a radio.) Hell, some even have a TV remote.
jridley
All of my Android phones that had a headphone jack had that. Kind of died when they went to USB C for everything.
abmoraz
My android phone has the same thing.
CheeseCoffeeChests
Oh you are right :D Mine too
JRaven419
Moto G 5g 2024 has an app
Booyah719
I LITERALLY said "Even the man?" to myself, scrolled down, and bam, delivered.
GravyEducation
#1 that's my cigarette lighter, it's fine (whispers to tiny man in my pocket like I'm Andor) we will get you to your portal just avoid the elves and don't draw attention to us
cousteau
I have an app for that too.
GravyEducation
Of course, you're Jacques you got an app for everything
GravyEducation
RUN LITTLE GUY https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1Y2xrZ3dzeWdrMmVodzByaWxtbXA4aWV3eGw2OGxseWdnMDRuMjBpZSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/bdeecmQ4AOAtqCLRnx/200w.webp
wazeewa
The thing is, that's not even everything either. You could toss in a library, a video collection, (basically anything that is software now on an app). Could you imagine going back to the 1800s and trying to tell people that the entirety of human knowledge is at our literal fingertips in a small magic rectangle?
REOJackwagon
https://media2.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1MXMxdm9ubHNuYnp3dTIxeXdoanJpOXY5eXc2MjJuOTFqcHk4emloYiZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/FNMtRkkUSeVs5sKsSX/200w.webp
jridley
...and we use it to watch porn and cat videos.
bekkayya
that is the only part they would understand. hell, its the only part we understand
johnhatten2
To anybody reading this meme, its probably not in your pocket
cousteau
Holy shit, how did you- oh.
Dyamonde
Even if you read it straight, that's not even remotely true. There's 3 pairs of over-ear headphones, a cassette-, cd- and vcr-player and the large speakers of the Boombox. There might be more, but it's hard to make out what half the stuff even is. And i'm honestly not sure about a smartphone's capabilities as AM/FM radio receiver.
Wolfshead009
Most radio stations can be accessed online.
ignotoCiResto
smartphone *were* capable to be am/fm receiver (so long you had headphone slotted in). some years ago that functionality was removed. I still dont know the why, thoo. lemme see what google say
cousteau
I have used my dumbphone/smartphone radio for a total time of 0 minutes since I got my first phone in like 2001.
ignotoCiResto
ah, found it. corpo greed, as usual. the hardware *is* in most smartphone still today, but corpos will gain more if you are forced to have a subscription to have music.
jridley
Because they killed headphone jacks and you do need an antenna.
ignotoCiResto
not only that. ya see, yesterday I put my mind to it and tried to enable radio again. it's technically possible since most processor for android have the tools, just disabled. My phone have the headphone jack, but to re-enable it I would need to root it and I cant cuz I use the bank app. Ok, I said, just download an app and you are good to go. Found ten or twelve different app, each and every one gave me the message "cant instal because there is conflict with the radio system app". So android>
ignotoCiResto
HAVE a radio app, enabled at that, that's locked beyond the user. It's not just for the jacks. It's corporate greed to force you into paying submission.
andexer
I love technology
PineappleLoopsBroether
fcib
It is also inside you
guardianzero
And you inside it. Like a recursive turduckin
andexer
I have a tape deck and camera inside me?! Hot damn!
shalafi71
The costs were stunning compared to today. My VIC-20 would be $1,800 in 2026 dollars. Next time you see an old ad, run an inflation calc against some of those sale prices. Saw a Radio Shack TV (set top) antenna, nothing crazy, $89. My Radio Shack CD player would be over $350 today. I won't pay that much for a phone!
thatwoodguy
Got a v i c 20 for $75 working
BigRobbo
You've got a VIC-20??? awww so jealous. Id love to try and use one
shalafi71
Had one until 1994 or so.
jethroismaxbaer5772
"Game systems are so expensive these days!" Bro, a NES would cost 262 dollars. And that's after it had been on the market for 3 years.
https://imgur.com/8Xz3cDJ.png
ydwyrd
Just checked, NES launched at $199USD, or about $536 in 2025 dollars.
Felberin
I mean, literally checked current price for PS5 is 650€, and it was released 6 years ago. Not sure if your argument is "the consoles aren't actually more expensive than the olden days", which is how I read it. And it's not like PS5 really broke new ground, aside from being just better than previous one. While NES had some flashy innovations over it's predecessor. Not least business favorite: "Easy to sell, hard to pirate" game catalogue :P
ydwyrd
NES didn't have a predecessor, it was Nintendo's first console.
Felberin
No, but it wasn't first home console, and back then there wasn't strong culture of "generations of consoles" per se.
randomwalrus
True, but almost all of them would still work good today. As opposed to being dead/obsolete as soon as the warranty expires, if not sooner.
ignotoCiResto
bro, your survivor bias is talking.
DdCno1
Haha, no. Electronics were notoriously poorly made back then. Apple sold a computer in the 1980s that overheated routinely and their advice was to drop it to fix the issue. Computers routinely shipped with faulty memory chips that were FUN to diagnose if you didn't have equipment for this job. Have you ever seen the kind of shoddy bodge-wiring that was on things being sold in those days? Also, TV and VCR repairman was a viable career for a reason. Audio equipment of any kind broke all the time.
Yakeshinu
You're absolutely right, but to be fair there were a LOT of moving/mechanical parts in pre-digital audio equipment. :)
ChelChehalem
This man could own everything surrounding him and could copy, share, or exchange media however he wished. We are only allowed to use the modern equivalents with a monthly subscription
DdCno1
None of this is true.
bittenicht39
Video and audio cassettes were analog, copying and sharing was a pain in the ass and always worse than the source. Pre-recorded VHS and CDs had copy protection. Rose-tinted glasses are often applied to distant memories 😊.
cyno01
You can be even freeer than that nowadays if you want to. I have 300TB+ of pirated media under my desk i can stream to anything anywhere and am the main streaming option for a dozen friends and family. Hard drives aint free, and are getting mroe expensive, but still cheaper than streaming. All of Star Trek in better than P+ quality is ~2TB, all of Adult Swim ever is <5TB.
bittenicht39
300 TB means today at least 7500 USD for the naked drives without NAS, SAN or any other enclosure. If you buy disks made for 24/7, even more. You must be a really nice guy 😬.
cyno01
If i were buying new and not refurbished drives, prices on those are up >$15/TB last time i checked, but theres been periods where you could get 20TB refurbs for $189. And thats been accumulated over 10+ years now so not too bad. Also the server is kind of a frankensteined mess.![]()
bittenicht39
I was looking at the current prices here in Europe, where 20 TB drives can easily cross 500 Euros 😳. Bad idea to look right now, i guess 🤯
cousteau
I thought the issue right now was DDR5 RAM, not storage.
cyno01
AI datacenter upgrades were providing the glut of cheap refurbs for a while but demand has outpaced supply so those are drying up and the price shot way up.
nowinsituation
We are not better off because of that....and there is also a dude in my pocket
dentros1
The amount of people I see distracted driving, even living as rural as I do is downright disturbing, doesnt take much to have a deer go through your windshield by me
randomwalrus
I have a name!
DarthFutuza
The stuff getting smaller wasn't the problem, it was the enshitification, privacy violations, planned obsolescence, suppression of right-to-repair, promotion of services over ownership, etc and in short, unregulated capitalism.
ThinkThisOut
That’s not capitalism….
Fortherea
+ algorithms
IMakeLotsOfReferencesAndRemakes
Yep. Smart devices are incredible. What they have been used for is absolute bullshit. I remember being excited about using the sensors to take measurements and such.
Ultratoxic
I wanted a tri-corder. I got a tri-corder. My tri-corder spies on me and ruins my mental health ☹️
PineappleLoopsBroether
TapeLeg
now that's funny
scivias
PineappleLoopsBroether
Skuggen
Although they're all worse, now.
PineappleLoopsBroether
heroesblood
I mean I've never had to pencil-fix my phone's tape player or get shit radio signal off my phone's antenna being wonky or had a disc skip
ilavalamp
The camera(s), calculator, video/audio on a phone are significantly better quality/more capable than what's in this image. The speakers are way better in the image (though significantly larger) than what is on a phone, the headphones will depend entirely on what you use - they will be better than super cheap earbuds at least. I don't know enough about the guy to say one way or the other.
jridley
Really? Have you watched a movie on VHS recently? Bleh.
cyno01
Even DVD looks pretty bad on a big modern TV.
keyblader1985
Well yeah; if you want high quality you usually have to get an item dedicated to that task, rather than a jack of all trades.
jridley
That said, I do still have a dedicated camera (RX100 VII), for special events and travel, it does very noticeably better than the phone, but I still take 90% of my photos with my phone.
Skuggen
I think maybe the biggest advantage of a 'proper' camera (unless you're going for more high-grade and expensive stuff) is having decent zoom. But I rememeber seeing the quote "The best camera is the one you have with you", which gives the phone a pretty big advantage.
jridley
I use a dedicated camera for zoom, but also having a real lens bigger than a pea gives actual resolution, not resolution that's fuzzy and has to be enhanced by AI in the phone to make it look good.
Also, the focus on better cameras is ridiculously fast, like a few tens of milliseconds to focus.
jridley
My phone takes videos that are astoundingly good compared to the camcorder I paid $1000 for back in the 90s. Back then I wouldn't even have believed that video that good was possible.
keyblader1985
I assumed they meant that modern apps on a phone are worse than modern specialized devices for the task in question. Not compared to those specific devices from the 80's.
cyno01
Prosumers gonna pro, but there is zero reason for the average person to own a point and shoot camera or digital camcorder anymore, any phone will do almost as good.
cyno01
By what metric? Yeah smart phones are ostensibly responsible for the downfall of society... but from just a technical standpoint mine can take hours of 4k video and stream terabytes of better than CD quality audio from my home server anywhere i have signal. Most of the pictured headphones are probably better than the average modern ones tho.
DdCno1
Nope, these old headphones were not good compared to what we have today, despite the fact that some (not all of them) were overbuilt like crazy.
cyno01
Fair enuf, besides a pile of random earbuds, my 'good headphones' are old enuf to vote, but only half as old as this pic and theyre still selling almost the same model. https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/ath-m30x
DdCno1
Had headphones from them, liked them, but they disintegrated and broke after 4 years, even though I'm extremely gentle with my stuff. I got new ones for the same price and everything about them was significantly worse: Sound and build quality, materials, even the bloody cable. This is a recent story, not an '80s one. Even those worse-sounding ones would have still blown people's minds in terms of their audio quality 40 years ago, but I think the materials would have shocked them.
cyno01
I can believe theyre crappier now, besides all that folding my actual model was a much higher price than those when it was discontinued. Still has the original foam tho the letherette covering is all gone, and i had to touch up the solder connections, but sounding great since ~2004. https://www.audio-technica.com/en-us/ath-m30
jackpkmn
They did have good headphones back then. They still sound alright today. But just like today most headphones are cheap crap.
DdCno1
One thing to keep in mind is that headphones were designed for the music that was available and popular back then. Old headphones tend to struggle with how base-heavy modern music is.
kirmokum
sub bass became pretty universal in recordings in the late 80s - early 90s. hip hop/electro and all the early rave/club genres, house/techno/hard core/jungle where sub bass heavy. cheap headphones couldn't keep up but good headphones could. the HD25s come to mind.