If you remember life before these 10 technologies, you're officially "old" to Gen Z

The other day, I mentioned floppy disks in conversation with a younger colleague.

She looked at me like I'd just described using a stone tablet and chisel. That's when it hit me: there's an entire generation for whom certain technologies simply never existed in their conscious memory.

Gen Z, roughly born between 1997 and 2012, grew up in a fundamentally different world than those of us who remember the analog era.

If you recall life before these ten technologies became ubiquitous, congratulations. You've officially crossed into "old" territory by Gen Z standards.

But here's what's interesting about this generational divide: it's not just about age.

It's about how technology has reshaped the way we think, communicate, and navigate daily life.

1) Smartphones

Remember when phones were just for calling people? When you had to actually memorize phone numbers or write them down in an address book?

The iPhone launched in 2007, but smartphones didn't become truly widespread until the early 2010s. For Gen Z, phones have always been mini-computers that happen to make calls. They've never known a world where you couldn't instantly Google something mid-conversation or pull up a map when you're lost.

I think about my twenties, when getting lost meant actually stopping to ask for directions or consulting a paper map. The anxiety of not knowing how to get somewhere was real. Now? That's completely foreign to younger generations.

What we've lost in the process is harder to quantify. The ability to sit with uncertainty. The satisfaction of figuring something out through trial and error. The unexpected discoveries that came from taking wrong turns.

2) Social media platforms

Facebook launched in 2004. Instagram in 2010. TikTok in 2016. For many of us, we remember a before and after. We watched social media emerge and gradually take over how we connect with others.

Gen Z doesn't have that reference point. They've grown up with social media as a given, as fundamental to social interaction as the telephone was to previous generations.

During my finance days, I watched colleagues struggle to adapt to LinkedIn and professional social media. It felt intrusive, this blurring of work and personal life. But for younger people entering the workforce now, that boundary never existed in the first place.

The implications are profound. Gen Z navigates multiple digital identities with ease, but they also face unprecedented pressure around image and constant connectivity. They've never experienced the freedom of being truly unreachable.

3) Streaming services

Netflix began streaming in 2007. Before that, if you wanted to watch something, you had to catch it when it aired, record it on a VCR or DVR, or rent it from a video store.

The concept of "appointment television" is quaint now. Waiting a week between episodes? Sitting through commercials? Having to rewind a VHS tape? These are artifacts of ancient history to Gen Z.

What's shifted isn't just convenience. It's the entire relationship with media consumption. Binge-watching has changed storytelling itself. The communal experience of everyone watching the same show at the same time has largely disappeared.

I notice this in how I consume content now versus ten years ago. The patience I once had for slow-building narratives has eroded. I expect immediate access and instant gratification. We all do.

4) GPS navigation

In-car GPS systems started appearing in the late 1990s, but GPS on smartphones made navigation universally accessible. For Gen Z, getting lost is more of a choice than an inevitability.

I learned to navigate cities the old-fashioned way: by getting lost repeatedly and gradually building a mental map. There was genuine fear in taking a wrong turn in an unfamiliar place, but also real satisfaction in eventually finding your way.

My trail running habit has taught me something interesting about this. When I run without checking my GPS watch or tracking my route, I'm more present. I notice more. I build actual spatial awareness rather than just following turn-by-turn directions.

What we've gained in efficiency, we may have lost in our ability to truly know the places we inhabit. Gen Z can get anywhere, but do they really know where they are?

5) Digital photography and cloud storage

Do you remember having to finish an entire roll of film before you could see your photos? Dropping them off to be developed and waiting days to pick them up? The genuine suspense of not knowing if your pictures turned out?

Digital cameras became common in the early 2000s, but smartphone cameras and cloud storage have made photography completely frictionless. Gen Z has never had to ration their pictures or carefully consider each shot.

The upside is obvious: we capture more moments, make more memories, have visual records of our lives in unprecedented detail. The downside? We're so busy documenting experiences that we sometimes forget to actually have them.

I've caught myself at farmers' markets, where I volunteer on Saturdays, taking photos of beautiful produce displays instead of just appreciating them. The impulse to capture and share has become automatic.

6) Online shopping and same-day delivery

Amazon launched in 1994, but the shift to e-commerce dominance really accelerated in the 2010s. Gen Z has always been able to buy almost anything online and have it show up at their door, often within 24 hours.

Shopping used to require planning, transportation, and physical effort. You had to go to actual stores, browse actual shelves, carry actual bags. If something was out of stock, you either waited or went without.

The convenience is undeniable. But something gets lost when every desire can be satisfied with a few clicks. The anticipation, the delayed gratification, the occasional acceptance that you can't have everything immediately.

When I transitioned from finance to writing, I had to completely relearn my relationship with consumption. The ease of online shopping had turned buying into an unconscious habit, a way to fill emotional needs that stuff could never actually meet.

7) Video calling

Skype launched in 2003, but video calling didn't become ubiquitous until smartphones and faster internet made it seamless. The pandemic accelerated this dramatically, but Gen Z was already comfortable with FaceTime, Zoom, and video chats as a normal way to communicate.

For those of us who remember only phone calls, video adds a completely different dimension. You can't take a video call in your pajamas or while doing other things. The visual element changes everything.

My partner Marcus and I did long distance for a few months early in our relationship. Video calls made that possible in a way that would have been unimaginable a generation earlier. But I also noticed how exhausting it was to be constantly visible, constantly "on."

Gen Z has grown up performing for cameras. That shapes how they present themselves, how they think about privacy, how they understand connection.

8) Ride-sharing apps

Uber launched in 2009, Lyft in 2012. Before that, getting from point A to point B without your own car meant calling a taxi company, waiting indefinitely, or taking public transportation.

The shift seems small, but it's actually massive. Gen Z has never had to flag down a cab or stand on a street corner hoping one would appear. They've never experienced the anxiety of not knowing if a ride would show up or what it would cost.

This extends beyond transportation. It's part of a broader trend toward on-demand everything. Services that respond instantly to your needs. No waiting, no uncertainty, no friction.

The question worth asking: what does it do to our capacity to handle inconvenience when we're conditioned to expect immediate solutions?

9) Wireless everything

WiFi became standard in the early 2000s. Bluetooth devices proliferated throughout the 2010s. Gen Z has never lived in a world of tangled cords and limited connectivity.

I still remember the very specific frustration of phone cords that were too short, of having to sit in one spot to use the internet, of devices that only worked when plugged in. Wireless technology created unprecedented freedom of movement.

But here's what I've noticed: that same wireless technology has made us perpetually connected and therefore perpetually available. The physical constraints that once created natural boundaries have disappeared.

When I take my weekly digital detox, I'm deliberately recreating a kind of disconnection that used to be automatic. Gen Z doesn't have that reference point for what life was like with more limitations.

10) Voice assistants and smart home devices

Amazon Echo launched in 2014. Google Home in 2016. For Gen Z, talking to devices and having them respond is completely normal. They've never found it weird or futuristic.

Those of us who grew up in earlier eras still have a slight sense of novelty about voice assistants. We remember when talking to your house would have seemed like science fiction. For younger generations, it's just how things work.

The shift here isn't just about convenience. It's about the relationship between humans and technology becoming increasingly conversational, increasingly blurred. Technology doesn't just serve us anymore. It interacts with us.

My meditation practice has made me more aware of this. The constant pinging, the ambient presence of responsive technology, the way it fragments attention. Learning to create space from that takes conscious effort now.

Final thoughts

Recognizing these technologies marks you as "old" by Gen Z standards, but it also gives you something valuable: perspective. You've lived through a massive transformation in how humans interact with the world and each other.

That perspective matters. It allows you to see both what we've gained and what we've lost. To appreciate the convenience while remaining aware of the costs. To consciously choose how you engage with technology rather than just accepting it as inevitable.

The goal isn't to reject new technologies or romanticize the past. It's to maintain awareness. To remember that the way things are isn't the way things have always been or always will be. To recognize that every technological shift involves tradeoffs, not just progress.

And maybe, just maybe, to occasionally put down your smartphone and remember what it felt like to be bored, to be lost, to sit with uncertainty, to live in a moment without documenting it.

That's not being old. That's being awake.