I used to believe that records were the power source for record players.

bob

When I was young I believed that the windmills found in farmers fields were used to keep the cows cool.

Linda

When I was small, I believed that if you ran the hoover over the power cord, or if you didn't keep the machine moving at all times, it would explode.

I insist that my mother told me these things; she denies it.

Craig Zerouni

When I was 7 or 8, when the internet was still in its infancy, I went over to my cousins house to see his neat new computer, and check out the internet, something I had never seen before. He explained to me something called 'downloading', but didn't do a great job of it.

I was into stamps at the time (quit laughing at me), and I asked him if he could download any stamps for me. He said sure, and I spent the rest of the evening asking where they came out of the computer, while he tried to explain to me how they could possibly be 'in' the computer...I wanted them to come 'out'. I presumed the objects would simply come out of the floppy drive, but then I wondered what would happen if I wanted to download candy...some bars simply wouldn't fit in that small of a drive.

It was not until a few years later, when I started using the internet at my dad's work, that I figured out that when you downloaded things, they didn't come out of the computer.

David

Way back before I could read, I used to believe that typewriters were telepathic, and people just hit the keys as fast as they could and the typewriter would write out what you were thinking. So one day, my parents were letting me play with the typewriter, and I thought out a bunch of notes to people and pounded out gibberish with the keys. I then gave the notes to my parents and older children I knew, and thought they were just being mean and pretending that they couldn't read them.

Char

I once believed that I could look into photographs, like you would a window, and look "around the edges" by holding them at an angle (also see further into the distance in the photo using binoculars).

Anon

When I was 3 or 4, I always saw my parent put video tape in the vcr. So I thought that my parent was feeding a monster. One day, my mother gave me a carrot stick. I decided I want to feed the monster. So I walked into my parent's room, jammed the carrot stick in (where you slide in the tape), and slided the carrot stick side to side. So yeah, I killed the vcr monster after that incident.

Flower

When I was a kid, I used to think that NASA couldnt send up a rocket into outer space unless it was night-time! I seem to remember believing that it had to be night so it looked like outer space.

Steve, somewhere in Australia

When I was young I thought that I you put something in a copying machine it would puplicate any object. For example my toys or my money. I thought I was really smart, because noone else seemed to have realised this! I would be the ruler of the world or somethinf if I could only get to one of these machines. Finnally, I got really dissapointed when I tried it at my mothers work...

Krickan

We had a fridge with an unmarked switch inside. After I had flipped the switch a few times (turned off the defrost settings? Turned off the fridge? I dont know...) my sister told me that flipping the switch turns the neighbors house upside down. (!) I believed her until I was about 5, at which point I performed an experiment (flipped the switch and ran outside), and was very, very relieved to find the neighbor's house right-side-up.

Dave J.

When I was about 4, I believed that if you scrub a vinyl record hard enough, long enough, with enough soap, you could erase what was on it and record your own songs there instead. I was never quite able to do this successfully, (this was before recordable CD's, or any CD's actually), but I did render several vinyl records completely unplayable.

Dave J.

My father-in-law, who is his 50's, has recently got himself hooked up to the internet. Every night, before he goes to bed, he unplugs the main power supply and disconnects the modem. The reason? To stop the computer merrily browsing on the web all by itself and running up a huge phone bill. I swear this is true.

Helen Y (UK)

When I was much younger, I was convinced that if you highlighted text on someone's webpage and hit 'Backspace,' it would delete the entire thing.

I was terrified at the power I had in my hands that no one else seemed to realize...

Lance

When I was young, I thought that the best solution to running out of photocopy paper was to photocopy the last blank sheet a number of times.

Jimbo

In the early days of the internet, the first time my computer gave me the now ubiquitous error message "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down" I was honestly scared. I immediately logged off, shut off the machine, and went to the window to see if the cops were coming to arrest me for trying to find help for my math homework.

Anon

I used to believe that when my parents were recording anything on TV, I had to be quiet around the VCR because any sound I make would also be recorded onto it.

Waffo

I use to believe that when you faxed someone something the paper would somehow travel through the machine through some wires and tunnels in the ground where workers would read it and laugh at the sender and into the next machine. The first few times I used a fax machine i would fold the paper I wanted faxed in half so that no one else coud read my message then fax it. It was a few months later, and many blank faxes before someone told me (amid laughter) how a fax machine worked.

Anon

As a child I was afraid of elevators. I was afraid that if you were inside and the door closed with no buttons pushed, the elevator would either go somewhere out of the building, pulling near-fatal Gs, or just vanish taking you along with it.

NedTheScientist

My little nine year old cousin (she's ten tomorrow, actually) is currently under the impression, thanks to me, that if you cut a piece of cheese into the shape of a DVD and put it in a DVD player, it will play a short film about cows. And if you do the same with a piece of ham, it will play a short film about pigs.

Katrina

When I was 3 or so, someone gave me a lava rock from the eruption of Mt. St. Helens (which 19 years later, I still have). I thought that if I put it in the microwave, it would become molten again.

Guenevere