To switch off subtitles

[Sloelydoesit]

Watching a movie with my son. English language. We are native English speakers.
He had switched the subtitles on and claimed he couldn't watch it without them. Apparently this is 'a thing' and he thinks that everyone mumbles.
I have switched them off.
Anyone else here who has children in the same situation who watches TV with subtitles on?

I also watch with subtitles because the sound quality on flat TVs is awful. I'm presuming this is because there isn't space for a proper speaker system anymore unlike the old box TVs.

I'm probably going to stick with subtitles as a study suggests they aid reading development in children but I'm interested to know if people with sound bars still have the same sound problems (e.g. mumbling, dialogue lower than background noise/soundtracks)? Do they help at all?

Always have subtitles on- my kid watches with subtitles too. No real hearing issue but it's what I was always used, and prefer to watch and read.

I use subtitles always and my kids seem to also do this. It definitely is a thing, and with subtitles you don’t kiss what they say when they don’t speak clearly or something else is loud.

I always have them on now for films and dramas. Am so used to them that it’s become second nature to read and watch at the same time. I don’t like them on for the news or comedy/panel/stand-up type programmes.

YABU to turn them off if your son prefers having them on.

What harm is it to you if he wants them on? Why does your desire trump his, regardless of his reasoning?

YABU. I have no idea what's going on without subtitles, so I never watch anything without them.
(I do have ADHD, and this is pretty common amongst us).

Subtitles are great and everyone does mumble. I'd rather watch with subtitles and not have to rewind.

It’s a genuine thing. I don’t need them but some in my family do. Background music is often much too intrusive, people don’t speak clearly or perhaps have unfamiliar accents. In this case you are being completely unreasonable.

My nearest cinema is small, just two screens. But they will always have at least two showings per film which have subtitles - was very happy to discover this! Added bonus is that tickets are £3.50. I really need to get back in to going to the cinema.

You know how scientists keep finding out new stuff about the different ways people's minds work? Well, one of the things is that some people have mental 'subtitles'. I did. It was like a ticker tape running through my mind, with all the words people were saying and I was saying. Even had sound effects sometimes, which could, on a fun day, look like the written sound effects in comics 😆

Anyway, I realised about 10 years ago that I'd started turning on the subtitles for films & TV. Around the same time I noticed that my mental commentaries weren't happening like they used to. I actually have to try now, which I do if I'm having difficulty following speech for some reason.

My hearing's okay - I've got tinnitus, but it doesn't stop me hearing although it does 'interfere'. And I have ME-CFS; I suspect fatigue's the reason my brain stopped putting in the small amount of effort to provide the commentary.

So that's my barely relevant, if quite interesting, reason for needing subtitles now! I do think it's always good to read, subtitles included, and have been pleased to hear The Young People are using them more now. It's also a great way to help learn a language! Set the subs to the native language when watching content made in the one you're learning 🤓

I always used to think subtitles on the bottom of the screen were really distracting and annoying. Then I realise just how wonderful they are.

I'm able to follow the plot of things so much better because I can see every word they're saying and I'm able to remember a characters name because it's regularly displayed before they speak.

I find having the TV loud enough to properly hear what they're saying is TOO loud, then I just get overstimulated and turn it off.

My son started watching with subtitles at one point (not sure I’d have worked out the tech for switching them on myself lol) and I am generally in favour, like others I find the sound on TV and movies increasingly rubbish and unclear these days and it can make things hard to follow if you literally haven’t heard the dialogue properly. At the same time especially when it comes to comedy having subtitles often ruins the punchline (can sometimes also ruin the suspense of a drama/thriller/reality TV!) because the whole thing comes at once and you know eg the killer is Pam, with no dramatic pause before the killer is revealed like is happening on the screen.

Sometimes I go to the movies for the blockbusters, like Barbenhimer. But for everything else, I prefer to wait for it to come on Netflix/TV/streaming so that I can subtitle. Also to rewind cool bits.

I saw somewhere that the sound settings on e.g netflix are default set to the assumption you have multiple speakers/ surround sound and you have to manually change it to get the sound all through the one tv speaker.

Apparently that's the main reason the music seems too loud and the dialogue is too quiet- we've all got the sound settings set wrong.

Always have subtitles on, given the choice. I can read them faster than any dialogue but also easily follow what's on screen. My DD is the same. We are both pedants though, so any discrepancy is flagged immediately with an eye roll from her (11 and too smart for her own good )

He wont put them on, even though you are deaf? That's awful!

I'm with you, OP, my DC always have the subtitles on, I find them massively distracting.

Apparently it's because they can't hear properly when they watch together. This is basically because they all talk over one another all the time!

I'm another subtitle lover (mid 30s). I find it hard to watch things without now. My parents wouldn't dream of having them on and when in laws visit they always ask how-to turn them off.
I struggle go follow speech in person and on TV. I'm a fast reader and don't have issues reading and watching facial expressions etc. It's win win for me.

This

I have a sound bar, it makes a huge difference to sound quality.

@Somewhereovertherainbowweighapie

Do you have a hearing aid? My dad has a loop system for the TV. When my mum was alive he could watch football with the comentary going straight into his ears, meanwhile my mother could be reading the newspaper in peace without hearing the TV.

It’s a thing

i fell down the rabbit while on this and ended up watching a fascinating an hour long dissection on why it is so hard to distinguish the dialogue when watching tv these days. We aren’t imagining the problem.

dh and I watch most shows with the subtitles turned on. We try without, but if the dialogue isn’t clear we add them.

Lots of cinemas will have some showings that have subtitles.

Omg yes!!! All of my adult children do. Drives me mad. So off putting and distracting. I turn them off!

Love them but then I’m deaf. Really quite interested to learn here that hearing people use them too. My kids still put them on but I assumed that was a throw back to childhood. They all were early readers but I love books including children’s books. I miss the days of Hairy McClary, Winnie the Witch, The Dog Who Dug etc. Overdosed on Thomas Tank Engine though. Still know all the Engines numbers and characters. But, I digress, I’m in the subtitles camp due to hearing loss.

Sometimes it's not mumbling but unfamiliar accents, and/or someone has set the volume a little lower than ideal for the other person. But if one person wants/needs the subtitles and the other doesn't; it seems fairest to out them on as not being able to hear/understand more seriously limits enjoyment than the annoyance of subtitles someone would prefer to do without.