Help help, I'm old

[sholio]

I have a pretty little lamp in my "reading nook" where the couch and a bookcase are. This morning my pretty lamp fizzled and died.

Oh no, I thought, what's wrong? Is it broken? I flipped up the lampshade and ... oh.

Incandescent bulb.

I FORGOT WHAT A BULB BURNING OUT LOOKS LIKE.

Remember when we used to do this all the time? Lamps fizzling out and having their bulbs replaced was just ... a thing. You had to do it every year or two for every single light fixture you owned.

Now it's going to be one of those things that the next generation of adults don't even know about.

D:

(I mean, yes, non-incandescent light bulbs don't last forever either, but it's not a "constantly buying lightbulbs" kind of thing like it used to be.)

Comments

[trobadora]

Haha, I still have these lightbulbs everywhere. To be fair, some of them are fifteen years old and never needed replacing ...

[sholio]

Heh, I'm pretty sure we've got a few around still (well, obviously we do, since I just discovered this one). It's just so weird to remember that having lightbulbs fizzle and die used to be a regular thing, and now I can't actually remember the last time I replaced a bulb in ANYTHING.

[rydra_wong]

... I wonder if lightbulb jokes will become a thing of the past? Or survive as a meme even though people will no longer realize that having to change a lightbulb was something that used to happen a lot?

[schneefink]

That is such a wonderful fitting icon xD

[trobadora]

Yeah, definitely - that's a pretty big change, and you don't even notice as it happens. So weird!

[sheron]

I still have those everywhere in my apartment XD Replace them every 6 months or so since they're now burning out faster lol

[frith_in_thorns]

Lightbulbs are always burning out in our flat because the wiring is terrible and it keeps frying them :/

(Yes it's a very new build! It shouldn't be like this)

[naye]

Ahhh yes. Definitely something to sort under "Am Old" these days - all of our lamps in the new flat are LED, which is supposed to last for like. Ten thousand hours or something.

Hopefully you still had some bulbs around for the reading nook!

[madripoor_rose]

Heh.

....I REALLY need to look into the fact that I have to replace the socket on this floor lamp by the computer at least once a year.

[yalumesse]

Horrified to realise you're probably right. The same way that *shudder* if you hold up a floppy disc someone will ask why you 3D printed the save icon and why some kids heard about Titanic's 20th anniversary and went "wait, it was a REAL ship?"

[lannamichaels]

I need to replace the ones in the bathroom every 6-8 months, I don't even understand this. (Moisture in the air?)

[sgamadison]

I think that's the *reverse* of old. I mean, if you'd been stomping around your house for the last seven years, believing on some level your lamp must be MAGIC because the bulb never burned out like it was supposed to, it would reflect a mindset stuck in the past (that also believed in magic lightbulbs)

Right?

So, not old. :-)

[lunabee34]

LOL

[magistrate]

I was just going to say that! Old enough to remember a different... lightbulb paradigm... but with enough mental flexibility that you've adapted to the new way without any resistance or discomfort. XD

I'm in the process of switching all the lightbulbs in my place from CFLs to LEDs. Once in a while I still run across a solitary incandescent. It's a bit strange.

Also strange: I remember feeling some discomfort about getting my current computer, because it has no built-in CD/DVD drive. Now the idea that I'd need one seems vaguely nonsensical. When was the last time I interacted with a CD?

Technological progress is weird.

[jadesfire]

Bwah! Yes, I know what you mean. We still have a few in lamps, so they don't get turned on and used as much. I hadn't really thought about it, but no, we haven't bought bulbs in aaaaaaages :D

[sgamadison]

I'm still struggling with the lack of a DVD/CD player. I have dozens of films and shows in these formats and no way to transfer them to a purely digital one now. I also hate the thought of using a streaming service that arbitrarily stops airing my show or only has three seasons of it. *sigh*

[umadoshi]

I like this take. ^_-

[sgamadison]

*grins*

[winter_elf]

*laughs* Really - you can get LED's or any lightbulb to last as long as they "say"????? My friend puts DATES on every lightbulb she replaces. Those 'last 5 years' ones? lucky to last a year, if that.

[conuly]

Meanwhile, the Centennial Light is still going strong.... (And at least when the old bulbs burned out, they just stopped glowing. The new ones occasionally release noxious gas into the entire room. On purpose. This is an intentional design.)