Practical Uses for a Laser Pointer

People see these devices and automatically see them as toys of a sort when this couldn’t be farther from the truth. They were invented for teachers or instructors that had a lot to say and a lot of space to say it. If a specific point needed to be highlighted on a transparency or a large white board, they could point the laser pointer at it and a single focused beam of energy would highlight a point on the board that they could then use to quickly draw attention to something that was written or drawn earlier.

They could do this without having to move out of their way or change their direction or even get up out of their seats. This was an especially helpful tool for presenters that had mobility issues or people that were presenting in large lecture halls and had more space than they knew what to do with. I use the past tense because unfortunately the popularity of the laser pointer amongst youngsters caused them to be appropriated for a younger cultural movement and then after these kids essentially took them over, their popularity rapidly decreased and went the way of the yo-yo. Now outside of the market of creating gimmicky pen laser things or ways to modify an existing laser pointer by adding shapes to it, the market is pretty much dead. It was a useful object that was used as a play thing, and then it transformed into a fad which naturally in the space of a few years become unpopular and now you hardly ever see them anymore.

Despite these facts though, nothing actually tangible occurred in the world of the laser pointer that should have caused them to become unpopular. They can still be used to this day for the use that they were intended before, and if anything the fact that kids use them should have made them even more popular instead of turning them into some kind of play thing. They should have had two markets, the adult market and the children’s market, and yet now there is none. This should not deter you from getting one though. You’ll be bringing back a retro fad which will make you cooler yourself and there’s really no practical reason not to own a laser pointer. They’re small, very cheap, and the battery life is virtually everlasting. Heck, you could afford to buy a new one instead of buying new batteries and it’d be cheaper.

You can use them to point to things at school, at your business during presentations, or just at home for your own personal use. The uses are virtually limitless. Heck, you can even use a laser pointer to play with your cats if you’re too tired to get up out of your chair, and if you ever get tired of the one you have then you can just pass it off to your kid or to someone else and they will get so much use out of it as a toy that it will be ridiculous. This should really be one of those tools that every house should have because you never know when you’re going to need one.