The Duffer Brothers’ Stranger Things is set way back in the 1980s when things were very different from now. Not only are the clothes, hairstyles and décor very much of the time but each bit of technology is also reflective of this era.

The crew went to great lengths to ensure that the show perfectly mimics the 80’s, from the outdated technology to the replica covers of old Dungeons and Dragons manuals for the time. There are also old stores, brands and even magazines which don’t exist today.

While some of these items are making a comeback, especially with 80’s influenced styles becoming more common, much of the technology, in particular, may be unrecognizable to younger audiences. Here are 10 things from Stranger Things that kids today won’t understand.

Walkie Talkies

In Stranger Things, none of the kids have mobile phones. Instead, they use two-way radios, commonly known as walkie talkies, to communicate. While this wasn’t a common way of staying in touch, many schools had AV clubs, which would use this technology alongside that of ham radios and other longer-range analog communication methods.

Since the boys are members of the Hawkins AV club and all live near each other this is a somewhat realistic method of keeping them in more constant contact, except when the batteries go flat or they move out of range.

Jonathan’s Vintage Camera

Jonathan Byers has a camera unlike most the kids of today have seen. It is a 35mm film camera, common for photography enthusiasts or photojournalists in the 1980’s.

Camera technology has come a long way over the last 20 years in particular and this camera is likely to appear as a relic to many younger viewers.

The main thing you need to realize is that seeing the photos wasn’t instant. You couldn’t look at a screen and see the image you’d just taken, instead they needed to be developed.

The Darkroom

Along with the camera is the darkroom, which kids know as “that weird room with the red light Jonathan goes into a lot.”

Jonathan is using chemicals to reveal the images on his camera film, something known as photo developing. This was how photos were produced back then, although most people had to send their films off to a lab and wait for the photos to be sent back.

It needed a very specific type of light to work properly, which is why Jonathan is so cross when Nancy keeps bursting in, letting in all the light. Her interruptions would likely have ruined some of his photos.

Will’s Boombox

When we see Will listening to music in his room most kids won’t recognize the format. He is actually listening to cassette tapes. This was the analog format for music which immediately pre-dated CDs. His boombox also has an analog radio function, visible just above the cassette deck.

Cassettes were often low in quality and gave listeners issues when the tape from the inside, which contained the music, would randomly get tangled in the cassette player. Like VHS tapes for movies, the format was much more prone to damage and degradation than CDs or DVDs are.

Jonathan’s Record Player

Technically vinyl, or records, came before cassettes but many music fans consider the format to give a purer and more realistic sound. This is likely the reason why the team chose to give music fan Jonathan a record player. The implication being that his cassette player was likely handed down to Will.

These days while cassette tapes are virtually impossible to find, vinyl is still available in certain specialist places. This technology is old but younger viewers may have seen it if they frequent music stores.

CRT Televisions

The television’s used in the show are also a throwback, which kids today have likely never seen. Not only are they absolutely huge at the back with tiny screens but most of them don’t even have a remote.

Back in the 1980s, we changed the channels on our 22-inch screens by getting up and pushing buttons on the set. Not that we needed to do it often since there were also far fewer channels to choose from back then.

Some TVs even had to be tuned, with users needing to turn a dial to find the channels, like on an old radio. This is how they tuned the TV into channels full of static during the show.

A Phone Attached To The Wall

These days no one has a phone attached to anything. Even landline phones, which are becoming a rarity themselves, are usually cordless. However, this wasn’t always the case. Back in the 80’s many phones didn’t even have buttons, instead having a huge dial which you turned to literally “dial” the number.

Those phonecalls where the kids are trying to have a conversation while in the same room as their parents? Children of the ’80s and ’90s will remember that feeling all too well. Mobile technology wouldn’t become common for a number of years so we spent our childhoods stretching phone cables around corners and trapping them in doors.

Mike’s Calculator Watch

This is an example of a tiny piece of 80’s technology most people won’t even have noticed. Mike’s calculator watch.

Back then most watches just told the time. The smartest tech was a digital watch that told the time and had a basic alarm and stopwatch. Until the calculator watch. This beauty had a tiny calculator as well, something which seemed amazing at the time.

All you need to know about this watch is that those buttons are numbers for the calculator and Mike would have been the envy of nerds everywhere. It was basically the equivalent of owning a smartwatch.

Pudding In Cans

These days you can’t buy pudding in cans but back in the 1980’s it was a common product, much loved as a treat. It’s a dessert which will often make children of the era recall their childhood.

Younger viewers will have never seen those neat little cans because this was one item which the team had to entirely fabricate due it simply not existing anymore.

According to Wired, Every can of chocolate pudding is actually a tin of luncheon meat or Vienna sausages, with a carefully produced replica label attached.

Retro Bikes

Something many viewers may not have thought about is how different bikes are these days. Back in the 80’s, bikes didn’t have modern-looking lights, numerous gears and fancy lightweight carbon fiber frames.

The bikes we see in the show are faithful replicas of the BMX bikes kids of the ’80s would have ridden around on. If you notice the kids looking tired after going uphill it’s likely because they were. Back then these bikes were more heavy, cumbersome and slightly awkward, making bike riding much harder work.