We've come a long way from the DOS days of the black screen and the green text. Anything an Apple II computer could do, an iPhone can do a hundred times faster. Still, those years formed the basis for the technology that runs our smartphones, ultra-thin laptops and 24-hour Internet-connected lifestyles today. But what would kids of the Internet age think about it?
Popular YouTube comedians The Fine Brothers published a new installment of their famous Kids React series that shows a group of kids aged 6 to 12 reacting to a clunky old Apple II from the 1970s, one of the most technologically advanced machines and most commercially successful computers of its time. Their reactions? Hilarious, predictably.
The kids couldn't get over how little a computer that big could accomplish. They were confused about the computer not having a graphical user interface, which wasn't introduced until the 1980s. And when told that the computer couldn't connect to the Internet, well, you'll see their reactions in the video at the bottom.
"If you don't have a desk, where do you put this?" asks one girl, who is obviously used to doing schoolwork and play with a light, sleek iPad resting on her knees.
When asked to turn on the computer, all the children turned on the monitor, but not the computer. "How do we do this?" asks one astounded little boy who didn't know he had to go to the back of the computer to turn it on. As the computer was coming to life, another girl asks, "Why does it have to make so much noise?"
When the computer was finally turned on, the children found out they couldn't really do much with it. They typed their names and tried to go to Google to no avail. "Apps! Games! Websites! Everything! But this thing right here has nothing!" exclaims one particularly fiery little girl about to lose her temper.
When the kids were told the Internet didn't exist back then, not one of them could wrap their heads around the fact that their parents had to go to the library to do their homework: "That's mind-blowing!"
The kids also tried to get the computer to solve a simple math equation, something the Apple II could actually do, but the kids weren't happy to learn they had to use the command Print to get the computer to provide the answer. When the computer solved the equation after one girl used the Print command, she exclaimed, "Finally! It took a thousand years!"
And when the kids were handed a floppy disk with a game on it, the kids weren't too impressed, although one little girl did say it was better than "Flappy Bird," even while another little boy criticized it for "too much pixelation."
At the end of the video, the filmmakers asked the kids if they wanted to own one of the bulky Apple II computers. Well, you already know the answer.
