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Comment by 8fingerlouie | Hacker News Reader

I love watching the world run around in circles :)

We started out by writing text, then went on to recording video/speech, only to realize that text was superior in the first place.

I get the value of videos for introducing new topics to beginners, but apart from the very early stages, i much prefer written information. I can search written information in a way that until very recently has not been possible with video/audio.

And also, my life is too short to view a 45 minute video on something i could probably read and understand in 10 minutes, without the obligatory introduction/self promotion/conclusion typically found in the video.

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I think it’s funny you frame this as an information density problem.

The vast majority of people consuming YouTube need moving pictures to keep their attention engaged and sadly enough a voice to offer the illusion of social contact.

If you label yourself as a 'content consumer' you have lost the battle.

I think it depends on what the video is about.

Watching a 3 minute video on how to fix my sink saved me about a hundred bucks.

If it was a 45 minute video, of course that would be useless, but "45 minute video vs 10 minute read" sure feels like a false dichotomy.

It's not a dichotomy, just an example. Dude above is just saying, yes video is good sometimes but for a lot of stuff just skimming a written summary is faster and better.

It's not an either/or thing, just that written summaries of video summaries of written information is just kind of funny :)

Sure it depends on the content of the video. Video is great for learning how to fix your lawn mower but other that it feels more like wasting time, at least if its not for your entertainment but to learn something. Thanks for the link will try it out.

I remember the massive annoyance of learning to tie a tie or learning a dance before YouTube. Today I feel extreme annoyance at library documentation for animations and UI components that just includes text descriptions.

This might be optimal for off-the-cuff content, since reading is faster than listening but speaking is faster than typing

Unless stenography ever catches on

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