| May. 13th, 2008 @ 06:26 pm Internet Social Behavioral Studies, episode 43: "The Comment Quagmire" |
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There's something about videos posted online that elicits the most unimaginative reponse possible. That response is the Audio-To-Text-Translation, or ATTT. The phenomenon of ATTT is when people watch a video clip somewhere like YouTube and their only response in the comments is not to give an opinion on the quality of the content, or to offer constructive criticism, but rather to simply type a portion of what they just heard.
That's it.
They watch the clip, hear some dialogue they liked, and type that dialogue into the comments of the webpage. Here's one completely random example, a Chris Ware cartoon from This American Life. The first (and so far only) comment is by someone named soce, who types, "I can feel it on my skin".
That's just a line of dialogue from the video, and he didn't even get it right. The correct quote, if you had to quote it all, is "I can feel this on my skin." But whatever, getting the words right isn't the point. Someone watches a web cartoon about a heavy metal walrus and their first response is just to quote it? "These flippers are now going to shred some tasty jams on this Fender Stratocaster!" Yes, you watched the clip. Yes, you have fingers and can apparently hit the keys on your keyboard in the correct combination to spell out some words. You're hooked on phonics, and you are an idiot.
I just don't get it.
PS - Here's a photo from someplace near my house:
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