How to get used to watching video faster · 3:43am Jan 26th, 2016
I've always been jealous of speed readers. Y'know those people that can read whole novels in hours and you can only scratch your head in wonder as they turn yet another page after 45 seconds. Perhaps you're one of them. And don't worry, I know about Spreeder and I've spent hours trying out techniques in order to read faster. They don't work for me yet. Though I will no doubt keep trying.
However, the best alternative to reading fast is listening fast!
YouTube and most podcast/audiobook players have built in systems for speeding up how fast or slow the content will play.
YouTube's playback speed can be changed in the menu.
But getting used to watching video at that speed can be a little rough at first. To help get used to the process, there is a nifty Chrome Extension called Video Speed Controller. (Firefox has a similar extension, but it isn't nearly as UI friendly as the Chrome one.)
Video Speed Controller in action
The extension allows you to nudge the speed of any HTML 5 video up in 10% doses. So even if you don't think you can handle watching at 2x speed, you can probably still watch at 1.1x speed. Watching at that speed is barely noticeable from watching it at normal speed, and yet you can complete the video 10% faster than you would have been able to do otherwise.
Grab a random long YouTube video you've been planning on watching and give this a bit of practice. Try nudging the speed up by 10%. Can you still understand the content? When you are comfortable with that speed, nudge the speed up by another 10%. Test out the speed at which you can understand. You can use the hotkey "D" to speed up, and "S" to slow down. If the speed ever gets too fast, you can always decrease it back to normal. But the more you increase the speed, the more time you will have to watch other content or anything else you would like to do.
The speed you can understand may be different for each video you watch. If there's lot's of motion graphics and other stuff flying around, normal speed is probably for the best. But for longer lecture formats, or tutorials, being able to speed up the content is essential.
How fast you can listen also depends on the equipment used by both you and the content creator. Listening to a video someone made using a laptop mic will be difficult at higher speeds; the audio quality just isn't high enough. And having good headphones can also increase your own listening speed. On my favorite earbuds, I can reach a pretty high speed, but on more expensive headphones I can listen faster and still keep up. You may have to experiment with your playback speed depending on what equipment you are using.
The absolute greatest thing about that extension is that it can work on any HTML 5 video. YouTube, Vimeo and Netflix all fit under this category. And this extension can surpass the YouTube standard 2x speed and go as high as 3.9x before the audio cuts out. I absolutely love this! There is something incomprehensibly wonderful about watching Star Trek TNG at 2.1x speed. I can join that fandom so much faster now 
To sum up, I use a Chrome extension to speed up videos to the brink of my understanding. Or—for videos I really like—to the brink of enjoyment, which may end up being normal speed anyway. 
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Fair warning though. Doing this can mess with your speech patterns. Not everyone talks at the speed you are used to listening. I had a friend that works in radio tell me he actively avoids listening in double speed so it will not mess with his broadcasting skills.
Also, when you're stuck in real life lectures and meetings you'll constantly be wanting to adjust the speed. It's yet another case of real life being not as fun as the internet.
interesting
Huh. I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I do speed some of them up, but I never considered speeding up videos I watch. I'll have to give this a look. I don't actually watch that many videos though, so I'm not sure how much it will help.
That is one of the reasons why I prefer to listen to Podcasts on Youtube. Sadly, it doesn't work that well with Audio books/ fic readings, since you do lose quite a bit in the better acted ones.
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Well, when you do watch a video, it's a nice option to have.
I find it invaluable for tutorials. Often I'll be like: "How do I install this thing again?" and there'll be one step in particular I don't know how to do. I can quadruple speed a YouTube tutorial and quickly see if the tutorial actually covers what I'm having trouble with.
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I'll drop down to normal speed for really well done fic readings, especially for ones involving lots of sound effects or music that will distort what I'm hearing if I try to listen faster.
Actually, I'm really curious how you manage YouTube only podcasts. I've never done it before, but I hear about people doing it. My favorite part about podcasts is being able to go cook/clean/exercise while listening, but on YouTube I'm tethered to a computer. Do you just use your smartphones data plan and listen on YouTube? And what about subscriptions? Youtube isn't the best at regularly updating you if there's something new, unlike a podcatcher.
3713221 I tend to listen to that stuff when I am gaming, and sometimes when working at the PC, so I don't use my phone that much. At any rate, the android youtube player doesn't allow you to speed up the video.
As for keeping up with them, I add all channels I subscribe to in Youtube to a RSS Reader – feedly, in this case. It keeps me updated, and I can save them for later so I can listen to them when I have the time. You can access the RSSfeed using https://www.youtube.com/feeds/videos.xml?channel_id= , followed by the channel ID, which is the long string you get after clicking the channel name on any video.
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Wow, that does sound like a good system. Thanks for sharing!
I wouldn't want to read faster or watch things sped-up when it comes to entertainment. I sometimes even make sure to slow down a bit when reading. I feel like I get more enjoyment out of the work when I take my time rather than rush through it. I'm in no rush either way.