If you still own a VCR, you need to watch this

I grew up in the age of VCRs. At the time, they were the greatest thing since sliced bread. Not only could I record television shows and watch them later but I could also watch movies at home that were previously only viewable at the movie theater. Life was good.

Well, except for the stack of blank videotapes that I was constantly juggling around. And let’s not forget the sticky notes I stuck on each videotape so I could remember what shows were on the tape.

And who could forget the dilemma you faced when your favorite show was about to record but you forgot to put a fresh tape in the VCR? Or when you accidentally recorded over your favorite show that you hadn’t watched yet?

Ah yes, the good old days.

These days, kids have it easy. To record a television program, they press the record button on the remote. To watch a movie they just select the thumbnail on the screen and press play.

So how do you think kids would react if we showed them the old school VCR? You’re about to find out. Shown below are some of my favorite scenes from a new video titled, Kids React to VCR/VHS. At the end is the video in its entirety.

“What the heck is that thing?”

“You put in your tape and then it will like, play music, right?”

So what do you think it is?
“CD player?”
“A music player thing?
“I think it’s a projections thing?”
“Is this like a DVD player?”
“A VCR player, and it’s really hard to like program the clock.”
“Is it a radio? Alarm clock? I give up, just tell me!”

What do you use now to play movies at home?
“DVD player.”
“Blu-ray player.”
“Xbox.”
“Netflix or Hulu Plus.”

How do you record a television program now?
“You just record on the TV though because they just do it automatically in the TV.”

“Oh, I remember these things.”
“I feel like I’ve seen these before.”
“It’s fat, bulky.”
“This is more complicated than a DVD”

Go ahead and put the tape in.

How does it look on the TV? Does it look as good as a DVD?
“It’s not, not good.”

When you would get a new tape, every time you watch the movie, the tape gets a little more damaged. So the more you watch a movie, the worse it looks.
“Oh, that’s why nobody’s using it any more.”
“Now that is just cold.”
“I think that’s so bad and I’m just gonna barf.”
“No! Why would you want that?

Back then, in order to rent or get a movie, you would drive the store to rent a movie?
“Drive?”

Do you or your family go to video stores to rent movies?
“No.”
“No, we stay at home and go on demand.”
“No, we usually just buy it online.”
“We go to Redbox.”
“We just buy it online on Amazon. We watch it for 24 hours for three bucks and, you know, that’s it.”