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New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

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Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#111

Post by jjulius »

castis wrote: post #38
mc32 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Irritation is not a valid reason for the government to step in and assert their power.

I agree, irritation isn't a valid reason. Addiction, on the other hand, is valid. Endless scrolling is designed to help keep people glued to their phones, continuously triggering a dopamine response that makes them keep scrolling, liking, and following. The purpose of it is to keep you hooked.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#112

Post by waitwut2 »

castis wrote: post #38
mc32 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Irritation is not a valid reason for the government to step in and assert their power.

But isn't that done all the time? My neighbor blasting their music at 3AM isn't physically hurting anything, but it sure is irritating. And it's also illegal for that reason. Seems fine to me.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#113

Post by GhostVII »

magduf wrote: post #77
GhostVII wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But autoplay do you mean sounds and videos that autoplay when you go on a website, or sounds and videos which are automatically queued up after something you are already watching? Because I agree that the first is very irritating (there is nothing that I hate more than Netflix autoplaying previews with sound), but I find queuing up the next video very useful.

It seems pretty self-evident that "autoplay" means something that plays automatically. Queuing isn't playing.

I do not think it is self evident. In the article (and bill), queuing is considered autoplay if you do not explicitly select playlist of things to play. The definition in the bill is:

AUTOPLAY — The use of a process that automatically plays music or videos (other than advertisements) without an express, separate prompt by the user (such as pushing a button or clicking an icon), unless

(A) before any content is loaded to the user’s display, that user or a different use compiled a playlist of multiple music videos or audio files that the user designated should be played without interruption, and the immediate user selected one of the videos or files in that precompiled playlist; or

(B) the predominant purpose of the social media platform is to allow users to stream music, but only if the only files the platform automatically plays are audio files or advertisements

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#114

Post by Forbo »

diminoten wrote: post #23
tlibert wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Much the same way that you're aware of each spoonful scooped up.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#116

Post by castis »

waitwut2 wrote: post #112
castis wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irritation is not a valid reason for the government to step in and assert their power.

But isn't that done all the time? My neighbor blasting their music at 3AM isn't physically hurting anything, but it sure is irritating. And it's also illegal for that reason. Seems fine to me.

No, noise ordinances are in place to prevent people from interrupting each others sleep, which is necessary for maintaining a relative level of sanity. It is not analogous to preventing companies from forcing a specific UI pattern on a website.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#117

Post by castis »

jjulius wrote: post #111
castis wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irritation is not a valid reason for the government to step in and assert their power.

I agree, irritation isn't a valid reason. Addiction, on the other hand, is valid. Endless scrolling is designed to help keep people glued to their phones, continuously triggering a dopamine response that makes them keep scrolling, liking, and following. The purpose of it is to keep you hooked.

So where do we draw the line here? Ive implemented infinite scrolling on various forms of list-views over the years for dashboards here and there.

Do we categorize and label what would or would not be 'intentionally addictive' content and then ban that specifically?

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#118

Post by stallmanite »

thorwasdfasdf wrote: post #71
GhostVII wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

And we'll have to ban Radio. We'll also need to ban most major highways, as they keep going and going and going. And don't forget to ban unlimited refills at McDonalds, I'm sure those get people into trouble too. How does the fast food industry get such a big free pass on all the trouble it's caused?

Your cup at McDonalds doesn't automatically refill though. It's more like actively clicking next.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#119

Post by hackbinary »

I thought I was going insane with all these videos auto playing in Facebook and Twitter. It truly is annoying.

I'm not sure if I am against endless scrolling, however. I would, though, accept the loss of endless scrolling if that would stop videos from auto playing.

Re: New bill would ban autoplay videos and endless scrolling

#120

Post by rconti »

GhostVII wrote: post #24
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…

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.

A good analogue is how certain TV shows (I'm thinking of Househunters, because I'm an addict) run one episode into another without a commercial break. You don't even notice you're on a new episode until you're already 60 seconds into it and hooked.
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