Watching how-to videos has become an addiction with me of late. I will never have the desire, or occasion, to rebuild a carburetor on a John Deere tractor, but I now have an inkling how to.
You can find a how-to video on just about anything, and what continues to surprise and somewhat amaze me is that it’s not just bored people with time on their hands. Hosting how-to channels has become an industry unto itself. Some of these people have channels with millions of regular viewers.
It has become a way to make money for some of these hosts, and they’ve become spokespeople for companies who want them to test and endorse their products on their channels.
It’s been entertaining and helpful to find channels dedicated to small- and large-engine repair, and even how-to videos on how to troubleshoot a broken clothes dryer. But, I have to say, I was pretty stunned to stumble across the 8-Bit Guy and his fairly extensive videos on repairing old Commodore and Apple computers.
He fixes a lot of things, but I guess I didn’t realize the level of interest out there for these machines. I actually kind of understand the obsession, or sickness, as I’ve spent way too much time and money fixing old things and, after the thrill of getting an old computer working wears off, it ends up sitting on a shelf because, well, it’s old.