Every few years, reflections begin on a new batch of trends that have made the revolution from cool to uncool to historical—and then, maybe, back to cool again. Why are those kids on Instagram embracing the Juicy tracksuits that were so gauche in 2002? What about pedal pushers? But some trends don’t get a second chance: Why, pray, did we ever spend our hard-earned money (or more likely, our parents’) on ringtones for our cell phones? When cell phones first came out, and you finally got one, you wanted to do everything you could to draw attention to it. Custom ringtones were first popularized by a nation of early tech adopters: Japan. The Digital Minimo D319, released in 1996, allowed owners to write their own custom ringtone ditties using the keypad. It was an instant smash: A book explaining how to mimic popular songs on a keypad sold over 3.5 million copies. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Forty-Two Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 42 Anna Wiener Anna Wiener was on the path to Silicon Valley success. Then she pivoted. Allyssia Alleyne charts the making of a tech-skeptic. Arts & Culture Issue 42 Influencers Anonymous Instagram content creators answer a short survey about the influencer industry. Arts & Culture Issue 42 Rage Against the Machine A conversation about the influence of invisible algorithms. Arts & Culture Issue 42 Computed Emotion On the rise of chatbot therapy. Arts & Culture Issue 42 Brewster Kahle The tech idealist archiving the internet. Arts & Culture Issue 42 Captcha This Prove you're not a robot.
Arts & Culture Issue 42 Anna Wiener Anna Wiener was on the path to Silicon Valley success. Then she pivoted. Allyssia Alleyne charts the making of a tech-skeptic.
Arts & Culture Issue 42 Influencers Anonymous Instagram content creators answer a short survey about the influencer industry.
Arts & Culture Issue 42 Rage Against the Machine A conversation about the influence of invisible algorithms.
