Throwback Thursday: this is what touchscreens were like in 1982

Kids these days with their fancy haptic feedback and capacitive touchscreens have no idea what we had to suffer with back before the Webternet and Circular Disc-a-tronics came in.

Take this recently released video from an episode of Tomorrow’s World that aired in 1982. In it, we’re introduced to an apparently normal-looking screen. But wait, whats this? You can touch it with your finger?!

Unlike today’s capacitive screens which use a grid of transparent conductors to distort an electrostatic field, ultimately pin-pointing the location of our fingers, the 1982 example uses something a little more primitive. A row of infrared emitters lining both the side and top of the screen create a grid of infrared beams. When your finger touches the screen, the grid is broken at a specific coordinate, and boom – the software knows where you’re pressing and acts accordingly.

The show even goes as far as letting the touchscreen control the aim of an air gun, accurately murdering poor innocent balloons in the process.

Of course, we’ve had no balloon killings since the helium treaty of 1988 was signed, and a damn good thing that was too. We had to make do with a picture of a balloon on our birthday during the shortages. And we had to walk three miles uphill through snow to get it too.

Esat Dedezade Contributor

About

Esat has been a gadget fan ever since his tiny four-year-old brain was captivated by a sound-activated dancing sunflower. From there it was a natural progression to a Sega Mega Drive, a brief obsession with hedgehogs, and a love for all things tech. After 7 years as a writer and deputy editor for Stuff, Esat ventured out into the corporate world, spending three years as Editor of Microsoft's European News Centre. Now a freelance writer, his appetite for shiny gadgets has no bounds. Oh, and like all good human beings, he's very fond of cats.