Let’s Confuse Young People With These 31 Pictures That Will Absolutely Baffle Anyone Born After 2000

You know those YouTube videos where they give kids a rotary phone or a Walkman and just watch the confusion set in? This list is basically that—but in picture form. It's a digital trip down memory lane that also doubles as a pop quiz for anyone too young to remember a time before touchscreens and TikTok.

Grab a teenager, a Gen Alpha cousin, or your own kid and challenge them to identify what's going on in these photos. What's a sweet cigarette? Why did old printer paper have holes down both sides? And what in the world is that mysterious metal contraption that spins when you press it? (Hint: It's called an ashtray—and back in the day, they were everywhere.)

Honestly, the responses might be even more entertaining than the photos themselves. So consider this not just a nostalgia dump for the rest of us, but also a social experiment. Let's see how many of these confusing objects they can actually figure out—and how many leave them thinking we lived in the Stone Age.

Author image for John Summers John Summers
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1990s 90s memes retro nostalgia 80s music Nostalgia Overload 80s 90s kids 90s memory lane nostalgia memes millennial-nostalgia 1980s
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