Florida retiree is stunned to learn dull video he recorded in the 80s is now ... trends now
A YouTube video dubbed the 'most boring video of all time' has racked up more than three million views from a legion of fans hailing it as the ultimate sleep aid.
Ormond Beach retiree Randy Smith was working for Florida Marketing International when he recorded the two-hour tutorial about an early version of Microsoft Word in 1989.
The softly-spoken salesman was alerted to the unexpected afterlife of his video explainer to the obsolete technology late last year when he received a text from a stranger thanking him for putting her to sleep.
But he remains modest about the success of his most popular work and its impact on the sleeping habits of his audience.
'Why somebody who has no interest in Microsoft Word would be watching it, especially such an old version, I have no idea,' he said.
The 1989 video opens with a pulsing 1980s electro-beat and a spinning floppy disk before cutting to Smith seated at his desk in semi-darkness
Over the next hour and 47 minutes he introduces viewers to the latest version of Microsoft Word along with how to save, edit and print documents
The ancient tutorial was uploaded 10 years ago by an influencer who titled it 'the most boring video of all time' but it has won a legion of fans who have used it as a sleep remedy
The video opens with a pulsing 1980s electro-beat and a spinning floppy disk before cutting to Smith seated at his desk in semi-darkness.
The lights come up to reveal a vast cube-shaped monitor perched on one end as the host begins speaking.
'Hello and welcome to MacAcademy,' he tells viewers. 'My name is Randy Smith and over the next couple of hours we'll be discussing Microsoft Word, we'll be going over the basics of that program,' he promises.
After a brief digression on the difference between word processing and desk top publishing he lifts the lid on the mysteries of formatting, saving and printing documents.
But he has taught more people how to sleep than how to use Word, according to more than 10,000 comments posted since the video was uploaded by a fan a decade ago.
'I can't remember the number of times that this Video has helped me sleep. Thanks so much for uploading,' wrote one fan.
'Literally searched up 'most boring video to sleep to' because it's 5.18am and I have online class at 9am,'
