Does this mean I’m old?

I just gave my little brother a crash course on VCR operation.

I have a massive collection of Disney VHS tapes that I hoarded from my childhood. I also have a VCR player that was just recently hooked up to the TV downstairs so that the fiance and I could enjoy a classic Disney flick.

Several days ago, I got into a discussion with my other brother (while the little bro was present) about such Disney goodness as Aladdin, etc. I declared that, not only did I have the VHS tape, but I also had the means by which to play it.

Well, today, the little bro, seeing the means, decided that he wanted to refresh his memory as to the wonders of “Ahladin”.

“No, no, it’s Aladdin.”

“Oh, right.”

So I pulled out the tape and handed it to him. But then I paused. Certainly he had watched many a VHS in his early years… but he is now the ripe old age of twelve and video tapes are a thing of the past.

“So you know how this works,” I said. After a hum and a haw, I decided I would at least begin the discussion and see where he picked it up, where his memory came in.

We opened up the VHS and I saw that, indeed, it had been stopped halfway through.

“Okay, you’ll need to rewind it first,” I said.

“Okay.” pause. “What’s rewind?”

Ladies and gentlemen, I tell you, I am not making this up.

So I did the only thing I could. I brought him to the VCR, sat him down and walked him through VHS Watching 101.

It’s interesting, because operating a VHS tape could be seen as simpler. You put it in the machine, when you want a break, you hit stop, when you want to start again, you just put it in and it begins where you left off. None of this “scene selection” stuff, shifting through menus, etc.

But on the flip side, with a DVD, you slide it in the tray, press play and there you go. No fast forwarding through commercials, no need to worry about rewinding when you’re done or the picture and sound degrading.

DVDs are definitely a step forward. It’s just amusing to see the constraint that time has on certain technologies. There are entire generations that have no idea how to operate video tapes.