'Stranger Things 2' basically gives everyone a cellphone

The second season of Stranger Things takes place in 1984, in a carefully curated world of mullets, muscle cars and arcades. Pick any scene, study it closely, and the obsessive attention to detail becomes clear: Yard signs proudly read, "Reagan/Bush '84;" Family Feud plays on a bulbous TV screen beneath rabbit-ear antennae; soda cans are scrawled with the era-appropriate logos. The clothes are right, the hair is right (yet so, so wrong), and Stranger Things 2's universe works perfectly as a 1980s nostalgia bomb. It all makes sense.

However, some of these details serve a purpose beyond world-building. The communication gadgets in Stranger Things 2 -- walkie-talkies, a police radio and a video camera, specifically -- aren't simply clever nods to a bygone 8-bit time. These pieces of technology drive the story and shape the main characters on a fundamental level. They're not just nostalgia. They're necessary.

And, taken together, the walkie-talkies, radio and camcorder serve as a handy stand-in for a contemporary mode of communication: the cellphone.

While we've tried to avoid any spoilers in this story, the following article does refer to scenes and themes throughout the season.

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