What I always loved about the sudden concern about the VCR fragmenting family viewing was that the people complaining the loudest were also the worst control freaks. In most households with this issue, particularly mine, the real concern was “The rest of the family isn’t watching what _I_ want to watch.” They weren’t about to pay for vid…
What I always loved about the sudden concern about the VCR fragmenting family viewing was that the people complaining the loudest were also the worst control freaks. In most households with this issue, particularly mine, the real concern was “The rest of the family isn’t watching what _I_ want to watch.” They weren’t about to pay for video rentals, and they rapidly lost power when the rest of the family noted “we have to watch this rental since we paid money for it,” with the additional fear of paying late fees if the control freak was insistent. (My sister was a classic case: she’d whine like Eric Cartman if she didn’t get complete control of TV viewing, particularly on Saturday mornings. The rule in my house once we got a VCR was that paid videos took priority, and that drove her NUTS.)
What I always loved about the sudden concern about the VCR fragmenting family viewing was that the people complaining the loudest were also the worst control freaks. In most households with this issue, particularly mine, the real concern was “The rest of the family isn’t watching what _I_ want to watch.” They weren’t about to pay for video rentals, and they rapidly lost power when the rest of the family noted “we have to watch this rental since we paid money for it,” with the additional fear of paying late fees if the control freak was insistent. (My sister was a classic case: she’d whine like Eric Cartman if she didn’t get complete control of TV viewing, particularly on Saturday mornings. The rule in my house once we got a VCR was that paid videos took priority, and that drove her NUTS.)