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KIDS REACT TO OLD COMPUTERS

REACT
Comedy
YouTube
Cited on HN 3 times, 2014–2022, never outright recommended score 0
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

Cited in discussions of intuitive design and how younger people relate to old technology.

An episode of REACT in which children try to figure out 1970s-1980s computers, including an Apple II and floppy disks. It was made to promote the AMC show Halt and Catch Fire.

3 citations · Comedy · partly dated

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@UVB-76 Jun 2014 Cites it
on HN thread AirType
Read more
Alas, this is a fool's errand. The keyboard is a broken interface, but this isn't an improvement. Suppose I am the user identified in the video. I have a tablet—maybe not a Microsoft Surface, but a tablet nonetheless—and I currently use a slimline keyboard to type. You hand me these. First thoughts: what are they? What do I do with them? Great products are those that someone can be presented with for the first time, and in a matter of seconds figure out what it does, how to use it, etc. Think kids reacting to technology [1] So for argument's sake I read the manual, or you give me a walkthrough. Great, how do I start using them? Oh, they have to 'learn' my writing style? Is my first impression going to be a string of largely inaccurate input? How am I going to 'teach' this system? Through some proprietary software, which I may have problems downloading, and which may not even work on my device? How are people going to demonstrate these in stores; how am I going to proselytize to my coworkers? "Just try these out; wait, no. Yeah, don't worry about that, they have to learn your typing style. Yep, they'll do that for a while... no, but they're really great. Honestly... honestly." This is already sounding like a lot of effort, but you've assured me there's gold at the end of this rainbow. Surely the cost-benefit analysis will check out. So I've got them working. Are they accurate enough? Let's assume they are. This isn't too bad actually. I'm going to hop on Twitter and tell peopl
Kids reacting to technology shows how great products are instantly intuitive.
@shagie May 2022 Cites it
on HN thread I'm a fucking webmaster (2016)
> The machines didn't do anything when you powered them on, just waited for you to enter code or commands. I am reminded of the old Kids React videos (which themselves are now nearly a decade old)... Kids React to Technology (an old Apple ][+) [this video]
Kids reacting to an old Apple ][+.

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

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