My wife, Laurel, and I agree about most things. That's one reason we've been married for 33 years. But we differ when it comes to watching television with subtitles (a.k.a. closed captioning) on.
I enjoy subtitles considerably more than Laurel does. So when I'm watching on my own, I almost always turn subtitles on, especially with streaming services like Netflix and Hulu. With sporting events and news programs, I usually leave subtitles off.
Though I'm 75, firmly in the Baby Boomer generation, not being able to hear dialog isn't why I like subtitles. I can hear what actors are saying just fine. It's not understanding what they're saying that drives me to tell the voice command on our Apple TV device "subtitles on."
British accents are the worst for me. For Laurel also, which is why we agreed that subtitles were a must for the Ted Lasso series, as it was set in England.
I find that the main benefit of subtitles is being able to understand the plot much more easily. Too often actors either mumble their way through an important scene, or lower their voices almost to a whisper. I don't find subtitles to be a distraction, though my wife does.
It turns out that I have a lot of company when it comes to liking subtitles. About half of Americans say they use subtitles most of the time, according to a survey of 1,200 people.
It's interesting that the younger you are, the more likely you use subtitles. Us baby boomers are the least likely to use them.
Here's the pros and cons of subtitles, according to survey respondents.
I only like them when watching foreign films, but agree that a lot of English speakers can be hard to understand.
Posted by: Rain Trueax | January 30, 2024 at 04:30 PM