Those early TVs were also a fire hazard … I had an elderly friend who said that he worked as a TV repairman in the 60s because the technology was new and so basic that tv repair was actually still a thing. The electronic parts were so basic that it was common enough to start a fire … it was vacuum tubes that used a lot raw power to power them up … the things generated heat! … and the radiation alone would blast a considerable amount into your living room.

I also have another older friend who keeps a collection of old portable phones he’s had over the years. His first one is a Motorola brick from the early 90s … and it’s literally the shape of a brick and about the same weight too. It came with a small zippered pouch attached to a shoulder strap … if you wanted to you could use it as a swinging weapon. He said his friend had the same model and the friend worked as a travelling salesman and was constantly on his phone back then … the friend developed brain cancer on the right side of his head about ten years ago and they always said it was from over using those old phones.

Between all this … lead paint, leaded gasoline, carbon emissions and asbestos everywhere … it’s a miracle we survive as a civilization.