I always watched shows with subtitles on and it ruined my experience

For like 5 years I'd put subtitles on every show I watched because I thought I was just missing dialogue. Then last week I was watching The Bear Season 2 and realized I was reading the screen instead of watching the actors' faces and the cooking. My buddy pointed out I missed a huge visual joke because I was looking at the bottom of the screen the whole time. Has anyone else caught themselves reading more than watching?

3 comments

3 Comments

stellanelson1mo ago

Dude I had the exact same realization like a year ago. The trick that actually worked for me was turning subtitles OFF for a whole week straight. Your brain just needs to retrain itself to listen instead of read. First few episodes feel weird but after like 3 days you start catching the acting and the little details way better. Also helps to watch shows with really good sound mixing at first so you're not fighting bad audio.

rubyshah1mo ago

Oh yeah, forcing myself to watch without subs totally changed how I hear dialogue too.

the_faith1mo ago

That thing about retraining your brain to listen instead of read is so real. I remember when I first tried watching stuff without subtitles I was so frustrated because I kept thinking I missed something important, but then I realized my ears just needed a chance to catch up. It took me about a week of forcing myself to not look at the bottom of the screen before I started noticing things like camera angles and background details I'd never seen before.