Watching videos at speed

I watch videos at 2.0x speed. That is all.

Upside down part of a rollercoaster loop with the coaster right there and the name Turbo on top.
Photo by Charlotte Coneybeer on Unsplash

Lately I’ve been setting my video playback speeds to 1.75x or 2.0x depending on who’s talking. It’s especially useful when I have to go through corporate training, because those videos are designed to be as accessible as possible – sort of, that’s an entirely different can of worms, – which means the presenter will speak slowly, enunciate clearly, and make sure that what they say can be understood. When I was learning English, teachers used similar clips in listening exercises so our untrained brains had an easier time picking out individual words.

The downside of that is that now I’m bored while watching most videos at normal speeds. I don’t need to think about parsing the words individually, I am impatient, and I want to get through things fast. I read fast. I listen fast. A lot of the times my internal monologue consists of “UGH COME ON WE DON’T HAVE ALL DAY” and the like, but I don’t have control over how fast a human is talking to me.

A recording though? Crank that up to 2.0x, half the time needed, still retaining 100% of the information! Win-win!