A Paragraph is Worth a Thousand Videos

It seems very popular these days to post videos. In fact that seems to have been the trend for some time. Sometimes these videos are things that make sense to be in video. Things like activities, actions, demonstrations of software, or showing us an event, well, that makes sense to me to be in a video. Sometimes these videos are things that do not make sense, at least to me, to be in video. Things like telling me about something, explaining your view of the world, or anything that is pretty much just talking and wasn't taken from a video of a lecture, well, that doesn't need to be in video.

Why?

Because I would rather read it. When reading, I can go at my own pace. Yes, I lose the drama of your voice, so perhaps sometimes I want video. But reading lets me be more in control of the situation. When reading, if I start to decide that what you're saying isn't worth my time, I can skim it. Skimming gives me the chance to discover that it is in fact worth my time, a good thing for you if you wrote it; also skimming lets me get the morsels of info or things relative to me without having to plod through all the stuff that isn't. I don't know how to skim video. Clicking around it is annoying since then it keeps reloading, and then I only hear certain words. It just isn't the same as using my eyes for input, now I'm using my ears (yes I'm looking at you, but unless this is a video that is a demonstration of something that really can't be put into words, I don't really need my eyes to get the point).

I wish more videos of lectures, or people talking, or whatever, would include written beneath them a "transcript" or some other style of laying out in printed words what the video is saying. So I have a choice. The news sometimes does this, and I like it (one of the few things I like about the news).