It seems that some high schoolers these days are starting to develop an affinity for owning physical entertainment items instead of relying exclusively on streaming, which for me was an unexpected turn.
My 14-year old started to develop a particular interest in VHS tapes thanks to a burgeoning enjoyment of analog horror, which is a subcategory of “found footage”-style horror movies and videos. Physical video tapes tend to play a big role in such stories.
That has developed farther still when the kiddo found an old, working CRT television in a thrift store for a scant $25. Connecting it to an old VHS player we found in my mother’s storage locker worked, and the kiddo was delighted at the old school look and feel of the videos.
What’s old is new again, indeed.
The more recent discovery of finding another DVD player, another VHS player, AND a Betamax player(!), was of no small amount of interest as well. I’m picturing our very near future being parts of the house dominated by literal stacks of video tape players and old TVs.
Not exactly ideal but hey, things could be worse.