Passing Thought on Communications

[moon_custafer]

A recurring comment I’ve seen online in the past year or two is the complaint about links that ostensibly go to news articles, which then turn out to be videos. It’s one I can agree with (it takes at least twice as long to watch a video as it would have to read an article— even more so if there are ad breaks), and I’ve wondered if it’s a generational thing— I’ve long since noticed that most people under thirty would sooner text than speak on their phones (another one I agree with). At least one of those complaining about the videos thought it might be due to PR firms erroneously taking the popularity of YouTube, TikTok, etc., to mean young people want all information in the form of videos.

OTOH, “people monologuing about their opinions” does seem to be a widespread YouTube genre, and there must be somebody watching. So maybe it’s more that I tend to follow people on platforms like Tumblr or Dreamwidth, and particularly those whose posts I enjoy; and therefore I’ve been selecting for the text-adept?

Comments

[sabotabby]

I don't think anyone likes video. Maybe young people, but I think not even them. It's just that news companies spent a lot of money pivoting to video (which they saved by making articles a string of tweets rather than actual journalism) and they won't admit they made a mistake.

[moon_custafer]

See, the impression I had until recently was that young people like video (as a means of communication when the topic doesn’t require visuals) even less, and I’d definitely buy the theory that the news companies are driving it— but then it occurred to me yesterday that there are these YouTube personalities monologuing about stuff, sometimes at great length.

Possibly the differences are:
1. Watching a personality you follow do a monologue is different than watching a video by a mostly-anonymous local news team.
2. There’s also a difference between going on YouTube intentionally to watch a video and having one sprung on you when you’re expecting to *read* something— your brain has to abruptly switch gears and it’s uncomfortable.

[sabotabby]

Both of those things are absolutely true. It struck me that starting a few years ago, many of the kids don't have favourite TV shows or movies, but they have favourite YouTubers. So do I but I still generally find it more strain than just reading.

[moon_custafer]

As stated in my original post, I suspect I gravitate towards people online who share my preference for reading/writing over spoken communication (there’s more time to choose your words, and at the same time it’s so much faster to parse a paragraph than listen for however many minutes it takes the other person to speak it out loud).

[sovay]

So maybe it’s more that I tend to follow people on platforms like Tumblr or Dreamwidth, and particularly those whose posts I enjoy; and therefore I’ve been selecting for the text-adept?

I monologue about my opinions all the time, but the idea of doing it on video is horrifying. I read transcripts of podcasts and video interviews when I can.

[lilysea]

I wonder how many people watch videos by pressing play and just listening to the audio while they eg do housework?

[sabotabby]

I definitely do that with all but the most visually interesting videos.

[moon_custafer]

That still requires the video be at least fifteen minutes or so in length, or you’ll have to stop what you’ve just begun doing to choose another video — so perhaps the issue is also the inconvenience of videos that fall between the ten-second single-joke TikTok and the full podcast/lecture.