Kids today only know what a VHS tape is because of horror games

Kids today know what a floppy disk looks like, but not what one is. They only know it as a "save" icon in games and apps.

And the phone call icon being a landline
- And the email icon being an envelope
- Land lines are nice
  
  A dumpster for spam
It's called a skeuomorph, and many times the camera symbol is one too, as most modern cameras don't look like that.
- The only examples I can think of look like a DSLR or similar. It would be funny if they looked like an 1800s camera with the bellows focus.

Adults today only know about what horses are because of western films.

Although, some people still ride horses for work or fun, but the vast majority has not even touched a horse. Oh, and it really depends on location too. Rich countries switched to machines about a hundred years ago, whereas poor countries still use various animals in normal everyday life.

I grew up in the 90s, and before I was out of college I think I'd ridden 3 different horses maybe 20 or 30ish times combined (never faster than a cantor), and learned the basics of being a stable hand and horse grooming.

Seattle and environs. Had both a friend and a girlfriend that each owned horses.

Ex GF actually lived on a small ranch, had 3 horses.

Former friend had a horse in a managed stable about 3 miles from her house.

She sctually paid me and another friend once to clear out a bunch of pigeons in said stable with a pellet gun.

... I wish we had had a .22. We had to break their necks... the pellet gun was only strong enough to concuss them. I felt sick, evil for a month afterward, couldn't sleep... vowed to myseld to never intentionally harm another living being ever again.

Went on to work in the tech sector as a data analyst, software dev, db admin for MSFT, Intl Import Export Firm, Non Profit...

Now I think I'd rather be a stable hand.

Less arrogant, full of shit, incompetent at their jobs idiots....who commit far, far more evil acts, orders of magnitude more evil things, in the name of profit than I had thought even possible.

Horses can often be assholes, but they are far easier to deal with than malicious people.
Oh, I've touched a horse.
- Oh, I've touched a horse.
- You work for Boeing by chance?
- Can confirm, I'm the horse.
Work horses are a lot closer than I expected. I saw them about 15 minutes from the downtown of a top 20 Mexican city. Hitched up like a western, pulling carts, or carrying a person and sack of produce.

Not rewinding was a horror trope then.

How unkind to not rewind.
- Especially when we had space age tech.
- Especially for sueded films

None of these horror games show players the true terror of VHS: the soul-rending sound of the VCR eating another tape. That cost $15-30 in 90s money!

That, and with rented tapes having to get up and adjust the tracking again.

How many of yall remember having to “adjust tracking” when the picture had too much “snow”?

Not me, all my experience with tracking was just seeing "A TRACK" on the screen every now and then

Have you ever asked any kids if they know what a VHS tape is?

I think you underestimate how many frugal families still own large VHS movie collections, and use their VHS players to watch them

In 2024, that's actually a giga chad move that hurts the corpos feels.

These people is like the seed reason why they are working OT to kill physical media. Now they are coming for consoles...

If you support the slop, buy a physical copy otherwise arrr

If they don't sell it, that's a service issue and rather disrespectful to media enjoyers IMHO
Frugal families sold their tapes, sold their VCRs, and sought their fortunes on the high seas.
- ehh while high seas are viable, some people just prefer that physical in similar way a smoker does not just like the smoking but also holding and play around the cigarette
i have the tapes, lots of tapes. all recorded off of tv. vcr quit working years ago, though. but i do have another at the office. used like three times in the last 15 years to digitize old home movies for someone.

I tend to be nostalgic for the tech of my childhood. VHS is an exception. It always was horrid.

(Yes, I know you're referring to it's use in horror films.)

Obligatory Studio C Bit

I linked to the relevant bit. The whole sketch is topical.

I remember when "analog horror" was when the VCR ate your rental tape

When you pull it out but the tape is still stuck in the machine

[off topic]

I read a collection of comics from the 1950s. There were stories about Hannibal, Julius Ceasar, Emperor Claudius, and other historical figures. The issue with Civil War stories covered topics like the Emancipation Proclamation. Today we don't put anything in kids' media that can't be sold.

EC titles like 'Valor,' and 'Frontline Combat.'

It’s unfortunate too, because history has a lot of stories that would make for great media. But it seems there is a war on history these days. At least recent history.
- You can't copywrite a "Hannibal" action figure.
  
  Reminds me of an off topic story.
  
  "Fables" was a comic book whose main idea was that the characters from all the fairy tales were living in one neighborhood in Manhattan.
  
  The TV networks like the idea, so they stole it. Twice.

I think a lot of our social problems could be solved if we were repeatedly told to be kind - rewind

Unfortunately, we can't rewind, we've gone too far.