Subtitles on everything
Put words on the screen for television, for videos on a phone, and for a video call where nobody has provided any.
Subtitles are switched on by an enormous number of people who hear perfectly well. On a train, in bed with a sleeping partner, in a kitchen with the extractor fan going, and in any drama where the actors have been directed to mutter.
Complaining that modern television is mumbled is not a sign of anything. Sound is mixed for movie theater speakers and then squeezed through a flat television an inch thick. Subtitles are the standard remedy, and roughly half of younger viewers watch with them on all the time.
There are three separate places to turn them on, and knowing which is which saves a lot of hunting.
Key points
- Turn subtitles on inside any catch-up or streaming player, and make them larger
- Set a phone to ask every app for subtitles without being told each time
- Have the phone caption a video call, a voicemail or a video with no subtitles of its own
- Explain to anybody who asks that half the country watches this way by choice
What to remember
- The subtitles button is inside the player, and it usually appears when you tap the middle of the picture.
- Live captions listen to whatever the phone is playing — including a video call — and write it down as it happens.
- Prepared subtitles come with the program. Live captions are made by your own phone, as it listens.
Try this
Turn subtitles on for one evening’s television and leave them on. Most people who try this for a week do not turn them off again, and it takes about two programs to stop noticing them.
Practice: Subtitles on everything. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.