Old devices, new meanings: The enduring materiality of outdated media and communication technologies

This article explores the enduring presence and shifting meanings of outdated media and communication technologies (MCTs) in everyday life. Based on 30 in-depth interviews conducted in Istanbul, it examines how individuals retain objects such as Walkmans, vinyl records, and early mobile phones – devices no longer widely used, yet still materially and emotionally significant. Rather than approaching these items as nostalgic collectibles, the study reframes retention as a materially mediated practice through which attachment, memory, and critique are enacted. Bringing material culture studies, science and technology studies, and domestication theory into conversation, the article argues that outdated MCTs act as mediators of identity and memory and enable alternative engagements with time, value, and media. Istanbul's urban ecology – marked by repair networks, second-hand circulation, and layered temporalities – further supports these practices. The article contributes to debates on materiality by showing how old devices persist as materially active participants in everyday urban life – culturally re-signified and affectively charged artefacts rather than passive remnants of past use.