Subtitles On Everything

A few months ago Netflix came out with an interesting new feature. Users can now customize subtitles by adjusting the size and style of the text between small, medium, and large, and change the color of the subtitles and placement of them on the screen.

Netflix isn’t rolling out these features for people with visual or hearing impairments and auditory processing disorders. it’s not for the handicapped. It’s for everyone. Because everyone uses subtitles now.

Survey after survey tells us the same thing. 50% of Americans watch content with subtitles most of the time. But that number is skewed because 60% of Gen Z use subtitles when watching video and that number declines as the age of the user goes up. Also, this isn’t just an American thing. We see this same pattern in the UK. 60% of Gen Z uses subtitles in the UK and, 30 percent of Millennials and then the numbers drop for 50 and over.

Why Are People Using Subtitles?

Watching video with subtitles is a new thing. The public never watched english language tv, online videos or movies with subtitles up until relatively recently. It has to be a trend that is less than 10 years old. The only time I ever saw subtitles is when I was watching foreign films. one of the reasons foreign films never did well in America was because Americans hated subtitles as detailed in this New York Times Article from 1992 

So why are suddenly 50% of people putting subtitles on? This is a dramatic shift.

The conventional view is that something is wrong with the audio. The mixing of new videos makes it hard to hear what actors are saying.

The argument is that the intelligibility of film and television dialogue seems to have degraded as a result of sound recording and editing technology being improved. This has caused a chain reaction:

1) Back in the early days of sound film, actors had practically to shout into bulky microphones concealed on-set or placed just off it. Today, sound recording is so good actors can engage with naturalistic dialogue that can include mumbling. Watch old movies, the actors speak VERY clearly and sometimes border on shouting when delivering the lines.

2) Accentuating the sound mix contrast. Many big productions want you to experience bombastic loud sound at the right moment. An explosion of the same loudness as a human voice won’t sound like an explosion at all. That means turning down the volume on the voices and turning up the volume on the explosions.

There are other reasons for the rise of subtitles, such as bad speakers. People watch video on all sorts of devices now including laptops, phones, tablets, or flat-panel television. Turning the subtitles on and leaving them on has emerged as a common solution to this modern problem we are facing.

But I learned there are consequences from this big shift.

My 2 Months of Subtitles Only Consumption

I’ve never been someone who needed or liked subtitles. They always distracted me from the complete picture of the film or television show. If I’m staring at text I’m not looking at the image, the scene or aesthetic.

But I wanted to see why captions and subtitles are so popular today and how it changes how you engage with content. So I did an experiment for 2 months where I only watched videos with subtitles. That means every film, every tv show, every Youtube video, everything. Then I stopped. Here’s what happened.

After I stopped, I had a hard time focusing on videos that did not have subtitles. I had to exert much more conscious focus on the dialogue. I realized that with subtitles I really cared about the plot and what the actors were saying.

I also started getting distracted easily. I would check my phone or I was lost in thoughts. Subtitles really improved my focus for those with cognitive disorders or who are easily distracted. Subtitles really increase focus. And when I stopped using them. I felt it. Other people have noticed the same thing

After a month or so I returned to my old baseline of not wanting subtitles. But there was a noticeable transition time until then. I felt it. If I was Gen Z and grew up with subtitles, why would I ever turn it off? Why even go through an odd transition phase to no subtitles? Theaters are equipped with up-to-date surround-sound facilities but so what? We’re probably 5 years away from subtitles at the movie theaters becoming the default.

Captions can even potentially become part of real life conversations.

In This Newsletter

1) TikTok and Caption Culture. TikTok became widely popular in the last few years as this addictive app that puts viewers into a vortex. Why did it get so popular when YouTube already exists?

2) Our Modern Discourse on Focus is Flawed. TikTok probably diminishes focus but the way we think about focus is flawed.

3) Subtitles and Art. Twitter and TikTok combine image with text. This is Lindy. Before the printing press there was the illuminated manuscript. Twitter is addictive because it combines both. Tik-Tok supercharges this addiction by adding moving images.

Why did Tik-Tok Get So Popular?

Why did Tik-Tok get so popular when Youtube already exists? They both do the same thing. They show you videos. They have both have algorithms too.

One of the reasons Tik-Tok has been so succesful is because it took advantage of a weakness of Youtube. The length of time. Youtube explicitly encourages longer videos because people will see more advertisements. Many videos on Youtube that are 10-30 minutes long should just be a few minutes long. We all fast forward YouTube videos or sometimes even speed them up at 2x. That’s because they are full of filler content. The incentives dictate the medium.

This is why many TikTok people go to Youtube. For more money.

Quite honestly, TikTok provides the information in a way more efficient way to digest. Creators have an exactly different incentive. As a consumer, you are getting a lot of information in a short period of time and that can be enjoyable, quite honestly.

Does TikTok Diminish Focus?

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