New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling • Hacker News Board

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#21

Post by FabHK » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:23 PM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #2

“If I take the bottom out of this glass and I keep refilling the water or the wine, you won’t know when to stop drinking” That's not how drinking works. That's not how anything works.

EDIT: see caveat from K-Wall below. Can't trust anything these days :-/

That's exactly how it works, to an extent. In a study [1], people with self-refilling soup bowls ate 73% more soup (p Nudge or in Mindless Eating.

[1] Wansink, B., Painter, J.E., & North, J. (2005). Bottomless Bowls: Why Visual Cues of Portion Size May Influence Intake Obesity Research, 13 (1), 93-100

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1038/oby.2005.12

[2] http://projectputthatcookiedownnow.com/2011/bottomless-bowls...

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#22

Post by nemonemo » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:23 PM UTC

I have suspicion that these politicians know what they are doing and they are doing these stupid things with the fullest knowledge that the bill does not help the addicted people. Also probably they know these things don't even threaten the tech giants. Then why are they spending their precious time for such a meaningless bill?

This makes me think of McConnell gaining support or lobbying from tobacco industry. Maybe this is a thinly veiled threat or request to the tech giants?

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#23

Post by diminoten » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:23 PM UTC

tlibert wrote: post #18

tantalor wrote: post #2

“If I take the bottom out of this glass and I keep refilling the water or the wine, you won’t know when to stop drinking” That's not how drinking works. That's not how anything works.

He utterly mangled it, but there is an experiment which proves the underlying concept (which I'm guessing was his intent, live testimony is hard): Bottomless Bowls: Why Visual Cues of Portion Size May Influence Intake Objective: Using self‐refilling soup bowls, this study examined whether visual cues related to portion size can influence intake volume without altering either estimated intake or satiation. Research Me…

A much better analogy, however I still think the generalization of "videos" as a single body of liquid is an overstep. It's not like the plot of a YouTube video just extends forever, you are aware you're starting a new video each time.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#24

Post by GhostVII » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:24 PM UTC

zbrozek wrote: post #11

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Things like requiring accept and decline checkboxes to be the same font seem somewhat reasonable, even if I disagree with it, but banning autoplay videos and endless scrolling is insane. There are legitimate uses for autoplay videos (ex. Netflix playing next episode, YouTube playing next song when you are listening to music) which I personally use all the time and appreciate, and endless scrolling is great when you d…

While I agree that it's hard to support legislation that's likely to have a lot of unintended consequences, it's also important to realize what's driving folks to introduce a bill like this. It's also worth pointing out that (in particular with Netflix) your example is its own counter-argument. You can't turn off autoplay, and that's the opposite of letting me make choices for myself. There's also plenty of other exa…

I think the choice is to just leave Netflix when you are done an episode. Maybe it's just me but I've never felt like the autoplay makes me much more likely to keep watching, it is just convenient so I don't have to go through all of the menus again.

If we ban autoplay on Netflix, we should also ban cable I suppose (not a big loss, really), since cable will autoplay indefinitely.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#25

Post by csense » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:24 PM UTC

If this is something people want, why does it need a legislative fix? Couldn't we just implement a technical solution and let people choose whether to use it? Like a browser plugin that stops videos from automatically playing?

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#26

Post by hedora » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:25 PM UTC

This is textbook regulatory capture.

Want to host your own website? Be sure to hire a specialized lawyer to audit and sign off on the user interface choices you made (and be sure to retain them indefinitely as your dependencies and the law evolve).

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#27

Post by dmcclurg » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:25 PM UTC

12elephant wrote: post #19

zbrozek wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I agree that it's hard to support legislation that's likely to have a lot of unintended consequences, it's also important to realize what's driving folks to introduce a bill like this. It's also worth pointing out that (in particular with Netflix) your example is its own counter-argument. You can't turn off autoplay, and that's the opposite of letting me make choices for myself. There's also plenty of other exa…

You turn off autoplay by exiting netflix.

That makes it a zero sum game--all or nothing. Not good enough.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#28

Post by mc32 » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:26 PM UTC

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Things like requiring accept and decline checkboxes to be the same font seem somewhat reasonable, even if I disagree with it, but banning autoplay videos and endless scrolling is insane. There are legitimate uses for autoplay videos (ex. Netflix playing next episode, YouTube playing next song when you are listening to music) which I personally use all the time and appreciate, and endless scrolling is great when you d…

I’m torn about endless scrolling. I wholeheartedly agree with a ban on auto playing sound or video. It’s gratingly irritating.

It’s rather anti-human, experience wise.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#29

Post by K-Wall » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:26 PM UTC

FabHK wrote: post #21

tantalor wrote: post #2

“If I take the bottom out of this glass and I keep refilling the water or the wine, you won’t know when to stop drinking” That's not how drinking works. That's not how anything works.

EDIT: see caveat from K-Wall below. Can't trust anything these days :-/ That's exactly how it works, to an extent. In a study [1], people with self-refilling soup bowls ate 73% more soup (p Nudge or in Mindless Eating . [1] Wansink, B., Painter, J.E., & North, J. (2005). Bottomless Bowls: Why Visual Cues of Portion Size May Influence Intake Obesity Research, 13 (1), 93-100 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.…

I wouldn't cite Wansink... the guy had 15 retractions in the past year for making shit up.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#30

Post by nostrademons » Tue, Jul 30, 2019, 3:26 PM UTC

tantalor wrote: post #2

“If I take the bottom out of this glass and I keep refilling the water or the wine, you won’t know when to stop drinking” That's not how drinking works. That's not how anything works.

Bottomless margaritas have led to many a poor decision.

(They remain legal, though.)