Says a lot about what is broken, incentive-wise, about the modern Internet.
Modern social media has only succeeded by moving away from text, and meeting the masses where they already are. They mostly don't want to read.
But I think there is a discoverability dynamic at play as well. Finding a blog post that isn’t garbage can be harder than finding a decent video on any given topic. This is clearly a feedback loop towards video but I think partly this is because up until now you couldn’t just create a spam video channel with the same ease that you could a spam blog.
I don't see an issue with there being multiple ways to learn how to do something, whether it be textual, images or video.
For this type of thing having a video running in the background while I punch in the commands makes sense, I can perform the actions at the same time the video does.
Definitely says something about your age though complaining about video versions of anything. Kids today don't even know what Google's search page looks like. They search in YouTube, TikTok type apps first. Since the location bar has also become the search bar while theGoogs pays browsers to be the default search, lots of people are not even aware they are doing a google search.
Also, some people will try things that are technically above their abilities normally. Having a video typing the commands in can be easier for them to replicate as it'll look just like the video. Text only from some webpage won't have those visual clues.
I much prefer text for this stuff too, but at least I can understand why something else is preferred by someone not me. I might be elder, but I'm not obstinate
Some people like blue, some people like red. Some people like audiobooks, some prefer reading actual books. Some people like to go to movie theaters, some prefer to wait for the movie to watch at home. Some people like cilantro.
The internet is a big place. There's room for multiple ways of skinning the cat without preventing any of the other ways.
Not an argument. It's an explanation. Stop with the antagonism.
I can get the same information only without the ads and parasocial relationships with content creators. Not making anyone money!
I've always hated the trend of moving towards video as well. But if my desktop was currently in the process of installing the operating system, leaving me without a web browser, and all I have is my phone as a secondary device ... I might actually prefer watching a quick video over trying to read text on a tiny screen and having to pinch zoom and horizontal scroll. Of course this depends a lot on how the text is presented, but in general I think video is easier to absorb on a phone and text is easier to skim / read / zoom / copy-paste on a desktop.
If you can't read normal text on a phone screen, consider corrective lenses.
I've written docs at work intended for non (or less) technical people and it's a pain in the ass to try and get screenshots of expected inputs/outputs, try to predict every question or misunderstanding and make the writing clear. There has been more than a few times I wished I could just record a video.
Not so much about the best way to communicate as much as the creators see it as their best option, for them.
I've seen a lot of tutorials that really just seem to be infotainment / social media news. Often forgetting critical steps and describing why you do a thing incorrectly. It's frustrating.
So it's both content and communication preferences. HN is a self-selecting group of a certain type, but not everyone on the planet thinks like the average HN dude
For the creator: videos can be monetized trivially
For the search: YouTube results are often highlighted top of the page on Google search results.
At least with a recent video you can see what they click, it's probably up to date and you see all the stuff they do and you can see if it actually works.
I was trying to install jupyter notebook a few months ago and all the how tos failed because macos had updated some nonsense. At least with youtube you can try to find a recent one where they mention that.
But that aside I appreciate the compliment (or at least I'm going to take it as a compliment).
text with images is a pain to scroll, and in video form you have one more channel of info - sound.
the visuals are there to tell you where it is you find the different things, or so you dont go hunting for a button that doesnt actually exist on a gui, but also so you can match the confirmation, and get an idea on if its running at about the right speed
I don't know why this is being put in this "I guess I'm old" bucket. Its just another form of content and a different way of following something. Perhaps if they put the text commands in the video description you would get the best of both worlds.
I like both, but following along watching someone else is helpful. YouTube tutorials on how to do things are extremely helpful.
If you find the video an inconvenience, just don't use it.
Because a bucketload of people only interact with the Internet using a device with a tiny-ass screen and super-shitty keyboard.
So, what you are actually asking is "Why the hell are people using phones to look this shit up instead of a laptop?"
Which, to be fair, is a valid question.
It is because "modern" search engines will retrieve only links to SEO spam. The only thing that, somehow, works (50% of the time) is youtube search.
Enshitification.