The other night one of my roommates was complaining (rightfully!) about auto-play videos on news sites. I was in the other room so I didn’t see if it was an auto-play video that actually showed the news, or an ad. Either way, it’s intrusive, and according to what I’ve read, not going to disappear no matter how much we bemoan it.
A few days later my other roommate went to a website to try to find information about internet rates (or something along those lines) and a chat window popped up in the bottom corner of his screen with the message “Hi! What can I help you with?” He recoiled and, I think, wanted to slam his laptop shut. Those chat windows–which always seem to pop up when you’re surfing somewhere you don’t want to be on in the first place, like an insurance website–make me much more jumpy than auto-play videos, because they present the illusion of requiring interaction, rather than just requesting viewing. If a video on auto-play is someone knocking on your door repeatedly, or turning up to tell you something, the pop-up chat box is someone coming over Kramer-style and refusing to leave.
For my part I never mind when videos auto-play IF they also auto-mute…just as I wouldn’t turn away a mime if one showed up at my apartment door (someone test me on that, please). The chat box is more invasive. I already hate it enough when my phone rings–and I only know it’s ringing if I happen to be looking at it; CLEARLY I keep it on silent–I don’t need another source of uncertainty (as Dorothy Parker supposedly said when the phone rang, “What fresh hell is this?”).
…my videos aren’t on auto-play, right? I wouldn’t want to breach your castle walls.
