We all had some version of this desk in our homes, but where did your family place it?
Posted by PM_Me_Ur_PoopKnives@reddit | Xennials | View on Reddit | 85 comments
I’d always just assumed that there was some Federal program that delivered these to every domicile in the U.S. No matter how big or small, expensive or cheap, rural or urban, owned or rented, trailer or McMansion, literally every residence had one of these bad boys somewhere inside.
The key differentiator was the location. Families were divided into 4 camps:
- Computer in the kitchen/dining room
- Computer in the family/living room
- Computer in a bedroom (usually only if the computer was for a single user and not the entire family)
- Computer in the den or finished basement (larger homes only)
We were firmly a #1 household. Where did everyone else have their family computers set up?
heavyLevy5@reddit
In the "computer room", which is now called the office
csonnich@reddit
Yep. It was the guest bedroom until we got that desk, and then it became the computer room.
Comfortable_Tale9722@reddit
We called it the computer room as well which was my old bedroom.
madsci@reddit
I'm pretty sure ours was intended to be an office from the start. My parents built an addition onto the house starting when I was about 2 years old - it's one of the earliest things I remember. It had a big living room and a loft, and since this was 1979-1980, "computer room" wasn't a thing yet (not in houses, anyway) but once we got a Commodore 64 it was clear the computer needed to go somewhere other than the family room. It's not what they'd intended but it worked out well. Had all of the ham radio stuff up there too.
Pretend-Menu-8660@reddit
We only had the ONE communal room and that was in the living room, with the tv and the book shelves and the piano and the second TV for Sega. … Let’s just call it the multipurpose room.
EastTXJosh@reddit
I had that same set up in my first apartment in college.
botterpants@reddit
Corner of the kitchen next to the phone jack and the door to the dining room. It was bizarre.
Sudden_Associate7566@reddit
Hallway, then living room, then hallway again.
Also: “A Father’s Gift (We’re Turning Your Bedroom Back into the Computer Room)” from Tim and Eric Awesome Show Great Job https://youtu.be/b7HlegQjcP4
IntelligentAd3283@reddit
It started in the living room, then moved to my bedroom.
Master-Topic-2989@reddit
Living room
optimaloutcome@reddit
Initially it was in my parents room but as I got older and needed a computer for school and was gaming it got moved to the family room.
59apache01@reddit
We didn't have a dedicated computer desk. Ours was on a folding card table in the laundry area. No idea why.
DameKitty@reddit
In the living rroom, long phone cord into the kitchen.
_Internet_Hugs_@reddit
My mom was terrified that we'd find 'unsavory' things online, so ours was out in the living room. We went with the kind that was in a cabinet, so when it was closed it looked like a hutch. Of course, it was never closed!
ScrimpyMuffin@reddit
Ours rotated between all of the above.
noonesaidityet@reddit
In the dining room next to the kitchen doorway.
Life_Fox7953@reddit
basement
Riker_Omega_Three@reddit
I had the glorious corner version
VinceAmonte@reddit
Yep! That's the one we had too! I actually miss that thing.
red286@reddit
My mom had a desk like this for her computer, which she kept in the den, so #4. The desk my computer sat on was more of a table than anything else.
When I moved out, my parents bought me a new computer desk, which, no shit, I am still using >30 years later. It definitely won't survive another move, though.
VinceAmonte@reddit
In the "Den," which was the TV, Library, and Computer room. Honestly, it was my favorite room in the house; it had all the good stuff!
Bubbly_Wave_4049@reddit
Definitely the den.
Spartan04@reddit
The family computer was in the living room, though our computer desk was a good deal bigger than that and not on wheels.
Weird_Squirrel_8382@reddit
In the corner of our eat in kitchen. When people talk about sneaking around to look at God knows what, I cannot relate
os_beef@reddit
We actually didn't. Our first computer was an Apple /// and it was in the laundry room. Next were Macintosh IIci and IIcx. Those lived in my parent's room. My first computer was a Macintosh Classic, then 840AV, then a G4 Cube. Most of the time my desk was set up in my closet. Didn't get a color monitor until the G4 Cube. It was incredible. A 17" Sony Trinitron. Best display I've ever owned. I regret ever getting rid of it.
suckacheetasdick@reddit
Scanning comments, this is still my actual work desk when I WFH
Moogle_Messiah@reddit
Come on guys, are we really ok with AI slop images like this?
ElegantGoose@reddit
In the corner of the dining room
PM_Me_Ur_PoopKnives@reddit (OP)
Follow up question: was it flush with the corner, turned at a jaunty 45° across the corner, or one of those 90° corner megadesks?
ElegantGoose@reddit
Oh we weren't that fancy! It was the kind from the first picture
jreashville@reddit
Spare bedroom became “the computer room.”
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
I bought a computer when I went to college so it was in my room, my mom always thought computers were a waste of money. Ive been in IT for over 20 years now.
CheerfullyCursed@reddit
My husband still makes fun of me for the comment I made when we moved in together and he wanted to get internet.
“Why do we need the internet?!”
TraditionalTackle1@reddit
I got AOL in 2000 and my mom was watching too many dateline specials about people meeting someone online and getting kidnapped and murdered. I was 19 years old fighting with my mom on weather I could use the internet or not LOL.
CheerfullyCursed@reddit
We didn’t have a computer. It wasn’t until my husband and I first moved in together and he brought his computer.
Kayllis@reddit
My parents had it in their bedroom. It was to make sure we were "responsible" with our online behavior and keep us from being on it too late. Yes, it was weird, yes we did our homework on it and yes we did actually stay up too late on it doing all the stupid shit teens do. Our parents were never actually home anyway.
_ism_@reddit
My family couldn't afford this. But i used my financial aid money in college to get my first desk and PC in my first off campus rental, with dialup
ladyxsuebee311@reddit
Lol thats what I was going to say, we didnt have a PC in the home until I was 18; it was in the living room and it was shared. I probably used it the most because the other younger person in the house was playing video games and watching WWE lol. Dial up and it suuuuucked if the phone rang and you were halfway through a download......this desk was very ubiquitous though!
AirWarriorP100@reddit
Dining room
Possible-Jerk0138@reddit
In the finished basement! It was clean living down there. Sectional couch, big screen TV.
elmoosh@reddit
In the dining room for some reason. Along with the treadmill that ended up being used to store cardigans and Mom’s weekly box of mini donuts. I miss the janky old days.
SSakuras@reddit
Ours is where the dining room is located. People on the computer can easily communicate with those in the living room watching TV. Both my mom's house and my current house (which used to be my grandma's), and they haven't moved 😂.
My old apartment though I had the computer setup in the second bedroom. I could that at my current house, it's 3 bedrooms and only my bf and I, but he plays his ps5 in the living room and I want to still be near enough that we can make fun of each other when we're getting our butts kicked in our games.
Dimplefrom-YA@reddit
living room.
Plumeria9798@reddit
It moved throughout the years. We had it in my dad's office for awhile, then we had it in the living room for a brief while, then the loft is where it lived for the longest time.
AlpedeOldAnglers@reddit
Dining room. Because my parents have not rearranged or moved since the first family computer was purchased, it’s still there. (With the caveat that my dad has since set up a personal home office in other spaces—basement, then a former sibling bedroom—but the family computer desk remains in the dining room.)
PM_Me_Ur_PoopKnives@reddit (OP)
My parents are very similar, which begs the question: what is on it now? Here’s their current setup: non-working inkjet printer on the bottom, old photo albums (the 3-ringer binder with “sticky” pages type), the microwave, and old mail that is too important to throw away, but they don’t want to get a filing cabinet. That desk also houses the “overflow junk drawer”, which is 90% old mystery keys, souvenir bottle openers and tape measures/Ikea tools.
AlpedeOldAnglers@reddit
Good question, and lots of overlap, lol. Possibly non-working printer, largely non-working laptop (mom’s), overflow for family office/art supplies/junk drawer, binders full of old medical & other “important” docs, and a large picnic basket for some reason. I believe there is still an exercise ball tucked underneath as well.
AlpedeOldAnglers@reddit
Just reviewed a recent photo to check my memory. Can confirm that the main surface is very much an office supply junk drawer and there are apparently two picnic baskets stacked on top.
rootbeer277@reddit
I've still got mine.
Most of the little cubbyholes, slots, pockets, drawers, and racks aren't useful for their original purposes anymore, of course. The space that used to be taken up by the backside of my monitor now holds my external hard drives, for example, and one of the little drawers now holds all those obsolete cables that everyone holds on to for no reason. But it's a higher-quality version (still mostly particle board, and gently repaired in a few places) and still holds a computer, so why get rid of it?
rialucia@reddit
At my dad’s house there was a dedicated computer room/office. At my mom’s house it was in what was referred to as the formal living room in one house and then moved to the dining room in another house.
Amusingly enough, my original computer hutch is still in “my” bedroom at my dad’s house. I have since had occasion to work from there for months at a time and it’s an ergonomic nightmare. I don’t know how I used to spend hours at that thing without getting full body aches. (Jk, I do know. It’s called being a teenager.)
Miz_momo82@reddit
It's still in my old bedroom as that's the only place it fits. My parents house is small
magsli@reddit
This style of desk was in my dorm room in 1999. We had 2 big wide tables set up in an L-shape in a small back bedroom/turned office.
FarmerMom1943@reddit
Dining room.
throwawayhbgtop81@reddit
In the dining room.
Designer-Bid-3155@reddit
The basement
Nonsenseinabag@reddit
This is where ours ended up after a brief sting in the living room. The TV was down there and my younger siblings were always watching movies in the background while my friends and I played games or spent time online.
Designer-Bid-3155@reddit
My brother lived in the finished basement and the computer was for him. So that's where it lived
SilverAsparagus2985@reddit
Dining room. But to be fair they lived in a rural area that barely had access to dial up when the rest of the world was getting dsl.
pct2daxtreme@reddit
Wherever the phone jack was located.
MyDearDoctor@reddit
Our first computer was on a sturdier version of that type of desk in our partially (and poorly) finished basement. Only my siblings and I really used it, and 90% of the time, it was for games. We also had a cool dot matrix printer down there.
PM_Me_Ur_PoopKnives@reddit (OP)
I can actually hear this photo. I will always have a soft spot for electronics with oversized knobs on them.
4luminate@reddit
can't believe i'm the first to say "we didn't have that..."
our computer was on the 'dining room' table. that no one sat at ever. we didn't have a real dining room...it was just an extension of the living room.
Adrasteia-One@reddit
In my parents' room. It was for space purposes, but I think they wanted to keep tabs on us, too.
Dry_Ass_P-word@reddit
Oh my. Core memories were built at that battle station.
PureOrange7049@reddit
We had almost this exact one. We lived in an apartment with a living room/dining room, and it used to sit beside the tv kind of in between. My Mom is one of those people who can never throw anything away, so she put it in the storage room once we didn’t use it anymore. It came in handy when Covid hit, I dusted it off and brought it to my apartment to use while I was working from home.
RightYouAreKen1@reddit
It was in "the den" aka my dad's office, which sorta had a "public use area" in front of his big desk, and his private desk area behind that we didn't really go into.
Piranha_Vortex@reddit
Between the living room and the dining room... no walls between the rooms. Basically, where any and every adult could see and hear you.
Cheezslap@reddit
Same. Though that's basically the only place that there was room for it. We didn't have the Internet, so privacy wasn't a concern.
Character-Ganache187@reddit
I still have that desk in a spare bedroom lol
OvenFriendly1818@reddit
Front bedroom also called Grandma's napping room.
HomelessKitchenCat@reddit
My dad preferred the computer was in the basement so he could secretly look at Asian porn
ElegantGoose@reddit
In the 90s? How long did that take to download? Pictures used to take a while!
What_Up_82@reddit
First house in the basement. Then we moved into a house with an unfinished basement, so it was in my parents' bedroom.
shed1@reddit
Ours was in a turn in our hallway. Yes, it was in the way especially if you were sitting at the desk.
PM_Me_Ur_PoopKnives@reddit (OP)
I’ll be honest, that sounds like complete anarchy.
melanthius@reddit
I shit you not they still have these things at like Office Depot
ShakeItUpNowSugaree@reddit
Initially in the living room, but eventually in a spare bedroom that became the "computer room" after I moved into the bigger bonus room upstairs. My parents eventually got sick of having the landline tied up, so they installed a second phone line in the computer room. My devious ass figured out that there was nothing stopping me from hooking up the second line into my bedroom phone jack. My friends knew to call one number before 9:00 and the other after.
Junebug35@reddit
Ours was metal. It was in the living room so my parents could make sure I was actually doing my homework, and not playing Railroad Tycoon or Age of Empires.
ScreenSensitive9148@reddit
The “den”, which was what we’d probably call an office these days. But it was an office for the whole family, not just one person.
Marshall_BraveStar@reddit
I had a metal PC table on wheels from IKEA. Ugly ass POS
whywires@reddit
My dad had built-in desks put in the living room and his home office.
But my mom had the corner version of this in the basement.
Kahnza@reddit
All 4
emptybeetoo@reddit
Ours was in the dining room on the wall adjoining with the living room. Computers back then had to be near a phone outlet to hook up the modem, so that limited where the computer could go without installing a new phone outlet.
Underfyre@reddit
Excuse me, my desk was way better than that. I had the early 90s version.
CloseButNoChicory@reddit
A room I dubbed "the computer room"! Though it was dominated by paints and paint-splashes.