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Ask HN: When did people stop being told not to eat or drink around computers?

23 points by schoen ↗ HN
When I was a kid (in the 1980s), I read a number of "introduction to computers" books.

I remember that an extremely common thing in these books was statements like "never eat or drink while using a computer" or "food and drink don't belong around computers". This was paired with computer lab rules (in schools) saying the same thing.

I'm drinking some tea as I type this on my laptop, totally violating the rule! (and exposing my laptop to some degree of risk)

When did computers become cheap enough, or personal enough, or integrated into daily life enough, that the no-food-or-drink rule fell by the wayside? Did anyone remark on this at the time?

28 comments

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pkrotich
I remember how expensive computers were back in late 90s and early 00s - I think that was primarily the source of the warning especially if one could afford a laptop. In college I worked in computer lab and drinks without lids were banned although the only potential damage was just to the keyboard and perhaps monitor - with the PC ducked away under the desk.

That said, a couple of years ago one of my employees accidentally spilled a cup of sweet tea on a brand new costly MacBook Pro and fried it. (Here is a fun fact - Apple limited warranty does not cover liquid damage and AppleCare+ only covers up to 2 incidents!)

I almost added a policy but quickly realized it wasn’t going to work especially when coffee is almost a requirement for many of us - so instead, I decided to add AppleCare+ and also cover equipments via general liability insurance and hope for the best.

This reminds me that the last decade or so, we all collectively had panic about smartphones & driving - some states even have laws against it. But everyone now drives entirely clued to their phone - it’s scary to observe but I guess we’ve evolved to have a third eye or something in addition to collision avoidance tech in modern cars!

GekkePrutser
> But everyone now drives entirely clued to their phone - it’s scary to observe but I guess we’ve evolved to have a third eye or something in addition to collision avoidance tech in modern cars!

Uhh wut? I'm surprised to hear that. In the Netherlands it's the total opposite. In the late 90s I used to call and text like crazy. I could even blind type SMS. I also had a 2-way radio for chitchat during driving. It was normal. And legal.

Now nobody does it anymore because the penalties are so high. I don't live there anymore but the last time I drove, in Ireland, the fine was €1500 + a third of a licence worth of penalty points.

I'm pretty sure must of Europe has this kind of law and it's pretty effective. Traffic has become a lot busier too so it's kinda necessary. Navigating with the phone in a holder is still allowed.

pkrotich
My observation is fairly limited, not sure how the rest of the country fair, but in Louisiana I literely see people texting or swipping on the phone while driving everyday! I know we do have laws in the books but they're not enforced at all! Last time I heard of someone getting a ticket was back in 2015 or so.
elzbardico
Driving in Northern Europe or Germany is a completely different experience than in almost anywhere else in the world or specially in the Americas. People actually follow the laws for the most part, they drive defensively, which usually boils down to breaking instead of honking in anger to avoid accidents. In general, compared to the US and South America you get the impression that people are actually paying attention to what they are doing behind the wheels. Of course, as a tourist maybe I looked at things with rose-tinted glasses, YMMV
greenbit
The year you bought your own for the first time, most likely. Or as soon as you got to college. That would have been the mid 80s for a lot of the first wave of 'PC' owners. And shortly after that, when we all realized any machine more than 2 or 3 years old was a dinosaur, and interchangeable replacement keyboards became cheap, that's when. So I'll say '1990' to be arbitrarily precise.
CHB0403085482
The rules of "never eat or drink while using a computer" or "food and drink don't belong around computers" still applies in a clean environment.
GekkePrutser
You mean like a clean room? I thought they prohibit food and drink anyway.
iwanttocomment
This happened around the same time mechanical keyboards and floppies were being phased out in favor of cheap membrane keyboards and liquid-impervious CDs. This was a progression throughout the '90s starting with the end of the IBM PCs and PS/2 machines in the mid '90s - replaced by cheap clones with even cheaper keyboards and CD-ROMs - to the introduction of the iMac in '98 with its (terrible) membrane keyboard and no floppy drive. Casual computing was pretty mainstream after that.
jaredsohn
CD-ROM drives were treated by some as cup holders and they became popular in the 90s.

It didn't cause the behavior but helps bound the timeframe for the phenomena.

An article from 2002: https://www.zdnet.com/article/ive-broken-my-coffee-cup-holde...

waynesonfire
No they weren't.
sjducb
They were.

https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/ur4se...

ksaj
It's right there in the URL: "the_cup_holder_joke"

Besides, the top of the computer case, usually mere inches away from the CD tray, is a whole lot more stable, and doesn't run the risk of knocking the drink over when software closes the tray unexpectedly.

The only people who ever used the tray as a cup holder, did it for the obvious meme. Note that "holder" makes it obviously a joke since the hole isn't even big enough unless it's like a shot glass. And they were much to soft and flimsy to use as a mini table.

GekkePrutser
I don't think I've ever really seen such a rule. Except in college but there everyone was carrying beer from the Friday bar to the computers (it was computer science so yeah) and nobody ever said anything. This was in the early 90s when they still were expensive and nobody had laptops.
markus_zhang
My university still forbids people to drink or eat in the labs. TBF I never saw anyone got penalized because of that. The desktops are slow and outdated anyway.
StanislavPetrov
My childhood computer (an Atari 800) was stained with so many beverage spills and food smears it looked like a Jackson Pollock painting by the time I retired it and moved on to an Atari 130 XE.
navjack27
I dunno I still keep food and non-water drink away from my computers. Mainly because I don't want crumbs or bugs around my computer.

But I suppose people have always broken rules in favor of convenience.

And I was taught to keep food and drink away from the computer in the 90s when I was a kid.

frupert52
It all changed when we started building computers that looked like fruit
earleybird
Carried over from "No eating, drinking or smoking in the computer room". Went by the wayside at some point. Now I just make sure most of the crumbs get cleared away every now and then. :-)
mapster
I never heard of that rule, else I wouldn’t have eaten a bowl of chili while entering Basic programs into a Vic20. Food and computers always went together.
ksaj
Exactly the same here. I'd heard the rule, but since I was the only person in the family that ever touched the Vic, it basically became mine, and I did whatever I wanted around it. And that included eating popcorn or whatever. And I always had a glass of water or soda when I was using it -- which was pretty much any time available... I was addicted to that thing.

Unsurprisingly, the Vic did not get ruined by moisture or crumbs. I used to take a screwdriver to it occasionally, and solder, so there is that, too. That was probably way more risky.

tomjen3
I had a costudent spill his entire chocolate drink over his computer in 04 or 05, so somewhere around there at the latest.

Generally I think it changed around when most people got their own computer and could make their own rules.

farseer
When the computer became a relatively cheap item, especially the input devices.
ksaj
Yes. When it was no longer novel to have a computer. Before then, it was special. Just like how granny kept her new couch covered in plastic until the warranty expired.

It's a bit like antiques as well. Nobody took particularly good care of their scientific calculators they needed for school, even though they also were really expensive for a student to behold. Only once they became retro collectible do people suddenly handle them at all delicately.

Remember your first car, or motorbike? Polished and kept oh-so-very clean, until it was no longer new to you. Then anything goes as long as it still runs.

vivegi
This is a personal anecdote from my college days in India (~early 90s). Our college had a mini computer/timesharing system and a separate PC network in our Computer Engineering lab. Those days we could enter the lab only after removing our shoes outside the lab (socks ok), presumably to avoid the dust from the shoes.
giantg2
I'm not sure there's a big bang moment. I think it's mostly that the keyboards and such are cheap and more water resistant today.
aaaaaaaaata
Dumping things into a keyboard isn't nearly as universally fatal today as it was.
qorrect
Eh I still do this, "no drinks in the computer room". Told that to my friend the other day and he thought I was joking.
pyuser583
It probably has to do with changes in keyboards.

I was working on some ancient PCs in 2002, and was told to assume motherboards were waterproof, or at least dryable.

As late as 2016, I was being told crumbs destroy keyboards.