A teenager has divided social media users this week after a video emerged of her struggling to work a tape cassette.
The footage in question was first shared on TikTok by New Jersey native Lynda Machado, who took to the platform to post a video of her 14-year-old daughter attempting to use a retro-style Walkman which she'd just bought from Urban Outfitters.
However, the Gen Z girl, who has grown up in a world where digital music has been around for most of her life, can clearly be seen struggling to operate the gadget.
Take a look at the video in question below:The teen can initially be seen trying to put the tape inside the player while still in its plastic case, prompting a snort of laughter from her mom.
She then struggles to open the lid, and also seems to have trouble placing the tape in the correct position in the deck, prompting more laughter from her mom in the background.
Suffice it to say that the clip picked up a lot of attention on TikTok, and currently boasts over 3.8 million views and 532,000 likes at the time of writing.
A number of users seemed to take issue with the girl's inability to handle the gadget. One person wrote: "It's the lack of problem solving skills for me."
Another then wrote: "Wait till she finds out there's no track skip."
While a third added: "Back in the day we just instinctively knew how to operate cassette tapes."
A fourth added: "I see a lack of observation and practical logic here or maybe it's just laziness."
However, other TikTok users were more supportive and compared her plight in the video to older people finding new tech difficult to operate.
One person wrote: "This has the same energy as watching an older adult try to maneuver computer settings."
Another person agreed, writing: "Weird how people assume that because THEY know something, that EVERYONE should know it... let's try getting over ourselves. [sic]"
Meanwhile, another person wrote: "To be fair if I had my mom try to use Spotify or Apple Music she'd have no clue how to use it."
Other commenters were just happy to appreciate the video for its humor. For instance, one social media commented: "I'm just shocked they're bringing them back [...] this was fun to see. Thanks for sharing."
Another was simply shocked that a teen had even bothered to purchase such dated equipment at such a high price, writing: "You know it was [probably] like $60 too but you could get them for $3 from a thrift store."
While another added: "Welp... I already knew I was old, but dang... this one hurt."
Machado later stated in a follow-up post that her daughter had given up on the analog music player, after accidentally tuning it to FM radio, struggling to find the volume control, and realizing that she couldn't use her AirPods as headphones.
.jpg_dOywgI?tr=h-184)