Consumers are more engaged with video content than ever before. According to YouTube, people collectively watch one billion hours of videos every single day.
As consumers with multiple screens vying for our attention, we find ourselves relying more and more on closed captioning. While we enjoy the chance to quickly get the gist of a video without sound, these captions provide benefits to our learning that often go unnoticed.
A recent “Learning How to Learn” newsletter from Coursera showcased an article in Medium that highlights how old technology can find surprising new applications by emphasizing why Gen Z loves closed captioning. Regardless of generation, we’ve all found ourselves attempting to multitask our screen time while watching TV, working on a laptop and texting.
However, research has shown that our brains are not good at handling multiple tasks and that multitasking reduces productivity by as much as 40 percent. So, how are we retaining anything when attempt to watch multiple screens at once?
Mental health experts cited in the article support the notion that watching with closed captioning serves a valuable role for those who struggle with focus and listening, further demonstrating that auditory processing is more easily impacted by distractions.
Closed captioning is a relatively recent development in the history of broadcasting, and it was designed with the hearing impaired in mind. According to the National Captioning Institute (NCI), the technology dates back to the early 1970s when Julia Child’s The French Chef “made history as the first television program accessible to deaf and hard-of hearing viewers.” What we know as real-time captioning made its appearance later to keep up with live news and sporting events.
While the NCI has not acknowledged the growing use of closed captioning by those without hearing impairments, the organization has noted that “closed captioning has grown from an experimental service intended only for people who are deaf to a truly global communications service that touches the lives of millions of people every day in vital ways.”
Whether closed captioning is gaining steam because the baby boomers have hearing loss or simply need help understanding some hard to decipher vernacular, captions are being used to focus more intently on the content.
Tags: closed captioning Filed under: COMMUNIQUÉ PR, Consumer, Execution, Media, Social media, Tech Industry