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Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

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Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#3
I can relate so much… I don’t have any hearing loss and I’m in my mid 40s, but I no longer watch anything I truly need to pay attention to without captions or subtitles. In fact, I like foreign films because picture and caption is enough for my brain - it’s like I have 2 brain channels and voice is simply a distraction / noise.

I think partly it’s because English is not my native language so caption in the early days helped. I also grew up with radio (no electricity / TV) - so I mostly listened and made up my own pictures. That said, I don’t completely tune out the voice now - it’s useful for tone and inflections but I depend on captions to get the the compete picture.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#5
We started putting captions on when our first kid was born, so we could still watch TV but have the volume down nice and low and not disturb her sleep.

It made a radical difference. We now tend to just have them on all the time. It's really mostly more modern movies and TV that we get value from it on, the audio mix is becoming such a mess with dialogue sinking in to the mix, that it's taking so much more effort to watch & listen. Put something on from 20ish years ago and the mix is totally different. That's despite having a sound system with a multiple speakers.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#6
I religiously have CCs turned on for everything I watch. Open Subtitles[0] is my daily staple. I sometimes miss little phrases/words in a movie, and if I miss them, the whole plot could be ruined for me and I wouldn't know what was going on. I pay attention to every word.

[0] https://www.opensubtitles.org/en/search/subs

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#7
post #3

I can relate so much… I don’t have any hearing loss and I’m in my mid 40s, but I no longer watch anything I truly need to pay attention to without captions or subtitles. In fact, I like foreign films because picture and caption is enough for my brain - it’s like I have 2 brain channels and voice is simply a distraction / noise. I think partly it’s because English is not my native language so caption in the early days…

Even though English is my native language I’ll always opt for subtitles for any movie or show I’m watching. It just helps to not miss anything in the story or scene, and I never even notice them. Reading them becomes completely subconscious.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#8

From the article: Because it's harder for them to concentrate. Plays to some stereotypes at least.

This article feels like the next generation of "Millennials are ruining...." much like "Gen Y is ruining..." etc. articles that came before those.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#9
We often have to turn them on because media mastered for different sound systems tend to get mixed up on our basic tv setup.

Also if we're watching something with loud ads (Hulu), we'd rather have the show be quiet and have CC on then have to constantly adjust the volume.

Re: Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on?

#10
post #3

I can relate so much… I don’t have any hearing loss and I’m in my mid 40s, but I no longer watch anything I truly need to pay attention to without captions or subtitles. In fact, I like foreign films because picture and caption is enough for my brain - it’s like I have 2 brain channels and voice is simply a distraction / noise. I think partly it’s because English is not my native language so caption in the early days…

Even though English is my native language I’ll always opt for subtitles for any movie or show I’m watching. It just helps to not miss anything in the story or scene, and I never even notice them. Reading them becomes completely subconscious.

You’re right - perhaps it’s normal for people who can read and listen to music at the same time.
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