# No, I don't want to watch a frigging video **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 28, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379 "2010-09-28T18:42:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379/21 "2010-09-30T06:35:26Z")
Agree with most everything everyone’s said. Many a news item has been lost to me because it’s presented as a video. No fan of PowerPoint either, though I suppose it has its uses. But in a lecture, part of how I engage with the material is taking notes. I’m digesting and prioritizing the information as it’s coming out of the presenter’s mouth and into my ears; based on that, I write down the very most important stuff, generally.\* If you’ve already done this for me, you’re feeding me intellectual baby food. You’ve done my work for me, and as a result, I neither retain nor understand the information as well as I might have. Also, you’ve bored me to death and I’ve spent a lot more time doodling on my notepad, daydreaming, or reading the SDMB. The only thing worse? Handing out a printed copy of the slides to accompany the presentation… - (Unlike some (many?), I make no attempt to write down every last article, preposition, and ‘uh’ that escapes the presenter’s mouth. Just the highest of the highlights.) ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379/22 "2010-09-30T09:15:33Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > And another thing…I don’t want to follow an obfuscated link to find out more. This is a trending thing with Twitter. People post 3-word quips (“This is funny!”) followed by a link like [Redirecting...](http://bit.ly/123454) and I really don’t want to follow that link to figure out what they’re trying to say. The worst I’ve seen was a tinyURL redirect to a LMGTFY animated redirect to a Google search, instead of just responding like a normal, not passive-aggressive person to a legitimate question. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379/23 "2010-09-30T10:39:16Z")
Yeah, another vote against Death By Powerpoint. It CAN be useful, especially if you just use it to show your talking points, or helpful/relevant illustrations. Dated a girl whose church had a setup like that, including monitors sitting on the front row of the pews so the guy speaking could glance down and not lose his place. It was actually helpful because I tend to zone out if given a lot of audio and nothing visual to back it with. What I do NOT like are totally unnecessary slide shows, or slide shows that are way to content-dense to be useful vs. using some other medium. In my office, the bane of my existence is when someone sends an email saying “We’re having a cookout on Friday at 11 o’clock at the smoke pit!”, accompanied by a powerpoint slide saying “We’re having a cookout on Friday at 11 o’clock at the smoke pit!” Bonus points for me having very limited storage space in my email inbox, and these slides always filling it up with info that was included in the freaking email I had to open before I could get to the slides! ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379/24 "2010-09-30T12:14:53Z")
> [@LawMonkey](#): > > The only thing worse? Handing out a printed copy of the slides to accompany the presentation… That seemed to be the policy at my old job. Every class or had to include a PowerPoint presentation, with a printout of the slides being passed out. The instructor would then read every slide out loud, with little or no additional material but occasional requests if anyone had any questions. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379/25 "2010-09-30T13:49:10Z")
> [@amarinth](#): > > I agree on video downloads. I’m going to get more information faster from text. Plus, text allows me to go at my own pace, especially when I’m being instructed. > > > [@matt\_mcl](#): > > > > I also don’t like multimedia displays in museums. Show me the artifact and give me something to read about it. > > I love multimedia in museums. It has to be done well, of course. But when there’s well done text combined with supplemental audio on specific pieces, I’m happy (if the audio is necessary, someone has made some bad decisions.) Yeah, me too… in other words, if I can completely ignore the multimedia aspect 😉 ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2010, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379/26 "2010-09-30T14:14:30Z")
> [@Kilmore](#): > > There was also a series of European forklift safety videos that needed no translation I remember seeing recently. [Gabelstaplerfahrer Klaus](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1BAiJIaezc). This one took an interesting route; it wasn’t ordered as a safety instruction video, the creator(s) just thought it funny to make it look like something official and then play up the consequences. Now I hear it’s being used as a training video anyway. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-i-dont-want-to-watch-a-frigging-video/555379.md?page=1)