To be clear: "Before computers were invented" goes a long way back, arguably before about 1940 but some could bring up Charles Babbage, for whose unrealized mec

To be clear: "Before computers were invented" goes a long way back, arguably before about 1940 but some could bring up Charles Babbage, for whose unrealized mechanical computer an actual program was famously written by one Ada Lovelace. So let's say "before computers were available to ordinary folks". Speaking for myself (as a kid)... Consumer electronics back then were much more recyclable than now. Almost every component out of, say, a dead TV could be snipped or unsoldered to use in new projects. If the recycled parts were loudspeakers, especially in matched pairs - try to make stereo speakers that sound good. Build crystal radio sets. Try to understand the mysterious new art of digital logic, though necessarily at the dozens-of-gates level. The analog world was fascinating, there were so many things you might some day understand/play with, such as ham radio or the phone network, which back then was about the most complex thing anyone interacted with. In fact, a lingering fascination with the phone network drove me (decades ago) into my employment in telecommunications.