Physical books are great but there's nothing more convenient for reading while traveling than an e-reader. You can turn the brightness down all the way on some so that there's no light coming from them at all, makes them feel more paper-ish sometimes.
As for older tech I really like those old mobile phones from the 90s to the 00s, modern phones might be more convenient but they don't have the variety they used to have. I'd take a green horizontal brick-shaped slide phone over a modern cell phone if it could be used nowadays. I guess the button thing applies here too.