Why do all these 20-somethings have closed captions turned on? • Hacker News Board

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

#641

Post by cratermoon » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 5:31 PM UTC

stephc_int13 wrote: post #109

I think that when you spend a lot of time reading, the cognitive load becomes almost free. On the contrary, listening is difficult, especially when people don't talk very well or loud enough, or with foreign accents. Combining reading and listening is a way to simply reduce the cognitive load.

Something like this occurred to me. I can watch movies and videos for entertainment and casual attention, but I follow and learn video terribly. I need words. I do OK with presentations and lectures where there's a slide deck. If it's solely talking, I don't keep up well. Captions make it possible for me to engage my better cognitive abilities.

What I see happening is that the much-ballyhooed "pivot to video", though more hype than reality, is a thing – I see more stuff as just video, nothing written.

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

#642

Post by daniel-cussen » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 5:31 PM UTC

moistly wrote: post #639

alvah wrote: post #589

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The account you replied to replied to a comment of mine on another thread with a weird word salad. It was suggested to me that said account may be a bot...

I’m convinced they’re not a bot. I believe they’re either deliberately engaged in “artistically” expressing themselves, or have mental health issues of the schizophrenic variety. https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/brainspotting/2022...

Yeah pretty much. Am in fact expressing myself in a very "flowery" manner, artistically. I'm elevating the HN comment to an artform. I actually was thought to be schizophrenic by doctors once upon a time. Diagnosed secretly. Then they walked back on the diagnosis. Rescinded. I still get treated for it, because you don't need to stop taking the medication for it if you don't want to. Loophole.

I wouldn't say mental health issues, either. I pay a lot for psychiatry and get my money's worth, have a handle on it, pretty good patient according to many doctors. Often the favorite. Alpha in the psych ward always, alpha in rehab. Hey somebody gets dealt this hand, what if he plays his cards right?

What if he pulls off checkmates?

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

#643

Post by mihaaly » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 5:51 PM UTC

strunz wrote: post #578

mihaaly wrote: post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly!! Things became worse in the past 10 or something years (I am a 40 something btw.). As the article states we used subtitles in movies to learn language and to understand thick accent. However throughout time while we got better and better in comprehension the use of subtitles remained the same in overall. But very uneven too. Old movies (not yet seen) and movies for children are never a problem. Also some pro…

I use that feature on Apple TV (normalize audio levels) and it's STILL too dramatic for watching unless you want to wake everyone in the house up. I have a 5.1 setup with the center channel even increased (to try and boost talking) and I still have to play the volume game at times.

Admittedly it is not solving all cases but for me it helps in seveal case. We have a simple stereo configuration though.

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

#644

Post by RickJWagner » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 5:54 PM UTC

I use captions often when I'm using 2x speed.

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

#645

Post by donclark » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 6:03 PM UTC

pclmulqdq wrote: post #246

donclark wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do our devices not have an option to normalize audio (or something along those lines)?

A lot of devices do have this option, but it's buried in the menus and it isn't always the best quality.

Thank you for inspiring me to dig around.

However, the only thing I found for Android was:

ViPER4Android FX For Android 12 & 13 (rooted only?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOeNGy-xhxs

https://www.xda-developers.com/viper4android-v2-7-new-ui-pro...

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

#646

Post by egypturnash » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 6:04 PM UTC

antiterra wrote: post #599

egypturnash wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not new. People were absolutely delighted to watch smeary third-generation VHS dubs of Japanese cartoons back in the eighties.

I was one of them which is maybe why I want to be as far from the low vertical resolution smeary VHS world as possible when it comes to film/Tv. Of course, the frustrating limitations of the past become the faux-nostalgic aesthetic of the future (there’s like a Gibson quote for this I think?) I’m all for fake tracking artifacts in a music video.

“Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature. CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit - all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It’s the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart. The distorted guitar sound is the sound of something too loud for the medium supposed to carry it. The blues singer with the cracked voice is the sound of an emotional cry too powerful for the throat that releases it. The excitement of grainy film, of bleached-out black and white, is the excitement of witnessing events too momentous for the medium assigned to record them.” ― Brian Eno, A Year With Swollen Appendices

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

#647

Post by iamacyborg » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 6:08 PM UTC

boltzmann-brain wrote: post #551

iamacyborg wrote: post #517

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh, that’s neat. You can definitely see the influence of that sound then following on into Inception which seemed to really popularise it.

It's always been around. In fact it's been very popular in games like the Modern Warfare series, which have major popular appeal.

Those were definitely not a big deal (compared to now) and were a very different game back in ‘05

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

#648

Post by mehphp » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 6:09 PM UTC

crazygringo wrote: post #581

I'll add one more reason -- TV shows often require you to pay attention to every word now. Thirty years ago, if you missed a line of dialog, it wasn't usually a big deal. Now if you're watching Westworld ? If you misunderstand a single line that might be the entire difference between "solving" the episode or not. TV has gone from a "casual" experience you can tune in and out of, to a kind of literary-precision experi…

I’ve had the same experience. Watching shows like that with the captions on makes me realize how much I miss with them off.

I’ve had a few instances where I didn’t “get” what had happened; I thought maybe it was just over my head. Turns out, I just missed some key dialogue is all.

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

#649

Post by nicolas_t » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 6:10 PM UTC

sph wrote: post #312

nicolas_t wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use CC even in my native language especially when I background watch. It's easy to work while watching a tv show (only works with relatively boring work) if I know I can quickly glance at the subtitles if I missed anything.

What kind of work can you do while watching? You're just doing two things badly. Unless you mean physical work that doesn't engage the mind like cleaning or doing the dishes?

Work that's mind numbingly easy to do... Anything that I know exactly how to solve but need to just spend the time implementing.

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

#650

Post by iancmceachern » Sun, Sep 18, 2022, 6:11 PM UTC

This highlights a thought I have.

There are 2 schools of thought. 1 - People on average behave differently now because of something to do with the people (their age usually, sometimes their wokeness, or there race, or there politics) and 2 - People on average behave differently now because of something to do with the environment (having internet now, different economics now, ratio of cost of living to income now, etc).

I tend to fall into more #2. It's not that "kids these days" do this. It's that movies and TV these days does this. If a younger person is watching an Seinfeld episode from 30 years ago there is no need for subtitles, if an older person like me is watching a TV show or movie that came out this week It's likely that subtitles would help anyone, of any age, follow the story.

As other comments here have noted. It has to do with the huge dynamic range on audio in most new film/TV. In my view it's not a "kids these days" thing, it's a "content these days" thing. I think that most things are this way. We read about how younger generations aren't as into home buying, nope. Economics have changed, they're not as able.