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For a very long time, life was limited by the rate at which we spoke. Although we have had writing systems for millennia, early texts were designed to be read aloud, meaning that literature unfolded at the pace of human speech. For years now, podcast and audiobook players have provided speedup options, and research shows that most people prefer listening to accelerated speech. Now Jeff Guo writes at The Washington Post that a new kind of storytelling is emerging as software has made it much easier to watch videos at 1.5x to 2x.
You can play DVDs and iTunes purchases at whatever tempo you like and a Google engineer has written a popular Chrome extension that accelerates most other Web videos, including on Netflix, Vimeo and Amazon Prime. Over 100,000 people have downloaded that plug-in, and the reviews are ecstatic. “Oh my God! I regret all the wasted time I've lived before finding this gem!!” one user wrote. According to Guo speeding up video is more than an efficiency hack. "I quickly discovered that acceleration makes viewing more pleasurable. "Modern Family" played at twice the speed is far funnier — the jokes come faster and they seem to hit harder. I get less frustrated at shows that want to waste my time with filler plots or gratuitous violence. The faster pace makes it easier to appreciate the flow of the plot and the structure of the scenes."
"So here we are," concludes Guo, "spending three hours a day on average, scrambling to keep up with the Kardashians, the Starks, the Underwoods, and the dozens of others on the roster of must-watch TV, which has exploded in the age of fragmented audiences. "Nowadays, to stay on the same wavelength with your different groups of friends — the ones hating on “Meat Chad” and the ones cooing over Khaleesi — you have to watch in bulk."
(Score: 2) by tibman on Sunday June 26 2016, @06:12PM
I also do this for information. Usually on presentations and tutorials. There aren't any subtle parts to miss, lol.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 26 2016, @10:14PM
A lot of shows have 'filler' in their episodes to pad out to the timeslot. It is actually one thing I like about Steven Universe and a lot of the other 15 minute TV shows. They have such a small time budget that they have to fill it with so much activity you don't get bored and want to speed it up. A lot of other shows and many forms of anime don't. There is often no background exposition to miss because of a few less frames, the dialogue is all up front and often related to the present only, etc. I have in fact been running subtitled works at up to 2x speed because there is not a lot to miss and it allows me to fix in 2x as many shows into the same amount of free time.
The real trick nowadays isn't in fast forwarding shows, it is in optimizing the show pacing to make full use of the available time, or shortening the show length for the same purpose. Timeslots only mattered for broadcast purposes. The advent of on-demand means episodes can be of irregular lengths and as long as they are providing an ongoing and satisfying story, nobody will care.