Video has conquered the web. The reasons for this are unsurprising. Other mediums are simply more challenging and less stimulating. Prose in particular requires literacy, attention span, and a modicum of effort to process. These are the same reasons that literature students often watch film adaptations in lieu of completing their reading assignments.
As a result of this triumph, those who wish to reach the largest possible audience have little choice but to distribute their works on the dominant video platforms. Musicians must release songs as videos even if the only visual element is a still of the album cover. News articles are read aloud by bots over a slide show of related photographs. Anything that can be represented in video form, will be.
There are serious consequences of this trend that I feel have been largely ignored. Accessibility, sustainability, search, and preservation all suffer when video is chosen over the alternatives. I am very curious to know how much energy expenditures and carbon emissions could be reduced if text were preferred over video.
Perhaps most troubling is how this allows the major video platforms to entrap users and entrench themselves against competition. It’s quite easy for any individual to host their own web site. Self-hosting video is technically challenging and potentially very costly. Even an expert such as myself finds little realistic alternative to YouTube.
One of my pet peeves is the video essay. I rarely object to their content, as most of those shared in my circles are quite well researched. What I take objection to is their obscene length. It’s extremely rude to ask the audience to spend several hours watching a video that could have been a very short read.
As much as I dislike this trend, I can’t blame anyone for making them. Imagine what would happen if they chose to publish a paper instead. The one person who reads that paper will turn it into a video essay garnering millions of views.
Of course I have no qualms if there are significant audiovisual elements which necessitate the use of video. That delves into the wonderful world of documentary filmmaking. A good documentary can use the medium to deliver its message in a more compelling and convincing fashion. Sadly, that is a rare sight on the web where we are most often treated to a static shot of a single person talking straight at the camera for hours on end.
Typically this kind of complaining would be followed by potential solutions. This isn’t one of those times. I fully admit there is not much anyone can realistically do about this. There is no future where people prefer web pages over the likes of TikTok and YouTube. With the amount of video I watch, I’m in no position to ask it of anyone.
The only answer I have is to be the change I wish to see in the world. This doesn’t mean I will never make a video; rather, I will simply take care to publish my works in the most appropriate medium. If someone chooses to engage with something I have put out into the world, I at least owe them the courtesy of not wasting their time with a video that could have been a blog post.