Write it down or it didn't happen

D

drhowarddrfine

I saw a list of links about technical issues this morning. Almost all of them were to YouTube videos about how to install software or fix something. The videos were around 10 minutes to sometimes 30 minutes long. It reminded me of the time one of the guys I worked with was watching a video about how to program something. I had to tell him to put his earbuds in cause it was disturbing the others but I found the subject interesting and I went into my office, looked it up, and found the poster had written out the information on his blog.

Some time went by, I finished the write up and learned something new, and went back out where I found the other guy still watching the video. He was scrubbing back and forth, writing things down, trying to understand the audio and trying to write code into his terminal. "Are you still watching that?!", I asked.

In almost all cases, I never watch YouTube videos of technical subjects. I don't want to rewind (which I always have to). I don't care about how they feel or what the whether is or the fun they had with their co-host or some guy they met years before. I want to copy and paste when I need to. I don't want to spend an hour only to find out he said "four" and not "or". I want to not have to worry that the audio distracts others and I won't listen or that the audio/video is distracting me from what's going on around me.

Uh...and...er...you...you'll....what?....ok...sorry about that.....never have issues such as this line.
 
I suspect it is a gradual change. It seems that many prefer videos. I loathe them, they take 10 minutes to cover a one sentence line.
I'm not sure what it is. For example, I recently had to replace my cheap home router. Instead of just connecting it, their instructions have you download a phone app and use that to install. When I returned it for another brand, I found that all the ones available, regardless of brand, have instructions to download the phone app. Which of course, requires you giving them information.

Fortunately, you *can* still just connect to the router through any machine but I had web search to find that out. I don't know if this reliance on videos and phone apps adds to some people's understanding, but for me, it's nothing but a nuisance. But maybe you and I are just old. I find it frustrating, both websearching for something, and finding 20 videos to one short page of how to do it, and relying on apps for everything. STAND UP, WALK OVER TO THE LAMP, AND TURN THE LIGHT ON! (Caps intentional.).
 
I hate it when members here ask questions and instead of posting simple error messages they post a link to a video and say "watch this, this shows what went wrong."
I never watch these videos. :mad:
 
I don't generally watch videos for computer instructions. Sometimes, a short clip does help - like in a demo of how a hidden menu suddenly appears when you float your mouse over an icon. Or, a demo how to use KDevelop's intelligent coding assistant. That kind of stuff is painfully difficult to capture in a screenshot or even a text-mode list of instructions. Twitch streaming, anyone? :rolleyes:. My point is, gotta pick the appropriate tool to communicate and learn the idea.
 
Another thing I don't understand. Most of the videos I've seen show a monitor with a guy typing on the screen. So you have to wait and watch him type, along with all his corrections, when a simple copy/paste of the text would have done the job (which is also copy/paste-able).
 
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There are screencasts of typing.... actual typing. When I was in 4th or 5th grade, there was a typing tutor program that measured how fast you can type without mistakes :P
 
Last summer I posted a long explanation why videos are the most ineffecient way of gaining knowledge.
But outward appearences and convenience are the most important if not the only criteria in today's society.
I don't wonder anymore why the intelligence of our society drops bottomless.

Joke:
How do you make a young dude fall into sudden deep sleep?

Just show him a page of a book with plain text only.

Here is the link to my (long) text, if you are interested in:
Go to youtube.com and watch a couple of videos on installing Fbsd.
 
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