Sub Dominance

Here’s some good news. Young people are reading more than ever. Well, maybe it’s only good news relative to all of the other 2025 headlines, because what they’re reading isn’t books. It’s subtitles on television content that is being broadcast in their native language. I’ve notice this generational trend in my own household. A recent “poll finds that about 4 in 10 adults under 45 use subtitles at least ‘often’ when watching TV or movies, compared with about 3 in 10 adults older than 45. Those 60 and older are especially likely to say they ‘never’ use subtitles.” (It’s interesting that the worse our hearing gets, the less likely we are to use subtitles.) The question of course is why so many people want to watch television subtitles on shows in their own language. There are a variety of reasons including this: “About one-quarter of subtitle users say they turn on captions because they are watching while multitasking.” Why many young adults turn on TV or movie subtitles. This actually relates somewhat to the model I’ve adopted when it comes to consuming 24 hour cable news panels. I turn off the subtitles. Then I mute the sound. Then I change the channel.