Real reason you can’t watch Netflix without subtitles on anymore

The thought of watching a show without subtitles switched on feels bizarre, and you're not alone.

An increasing number of viewers are now watching TV and films with subtitles switched on - but what are the reasons behind this trend?

Subtitles are primarily aimed at viewers who cannot understand the language being spoken in the video, allowing them to follow along with the story by reading the transcription on screen. They also often include non-speech details, such as tense music builds, which add extra context even for those who can hear the music. On-screen text also works better for when people turn scenes into memes when catching every crucial detail is important, especially when the scene becomes an aesthetically pleasing static image.

A poll by Preply found that 70% of viewers watch TV with subtitles on, and not just for foreign media.

And according to Netflix, 40% of global users always have subtitles switched on, and 80% use them at least once a month. With over 300 million paying subscribers, that’s a lot of viewers incorporating subtitles into their viewing habits.

So, what is driving this trend? Some viewers have become subtitle households because they feel they may miss crucial details that are integral to the plot.

Meanwhile, there’s also an argument that modern media just doesn’t sound as clear as it once did. Sound mixer Guntis Sics, who worked on Moulin Rouge! and Thor: Ragnarok, says dialogue is getting lost in background noise.

“As technology evolved, especially when it took the leap to digital, a tsunami of sound appeared,” he told The Guardian. “Actors used to project towards a fixed mic. Now, with portable mics, performances are quieter—some might say, mumbled.”

Are mumbling actors with bad enunciation to blame?

Sound mixing has also become more difficult as audio is optimisied for cinema sound systems, rather than the laptop or TV you have at home. Dialogue can get lost in special effects, music and background noise if you haven’t fine-tuned your TV and audio system accordingly.

If you’ve ever caught yourself struggling to understand actors on screen, Sics urges audiences to change their TV audio settings. Consider switching to a speech-enhanced mode, tweaking the treble levels, or adding a rug to your room so it absorbs echoes.

Similarly, dialogue editor Austin Olivia Kendrick spoke to Vox about the reasons why viewers can’t seem to hear what actors are saying, despite not having hearing issues themselves.

In the past, when movies transitioned out of the silent period to having spoken dialogue, actors had to enunciate and project loudly so large microphones could record them.

Thanks to modern technology, actors can move around freely without having to project into large mics, which are now so small they can be strapped to the actor discreetly. Now they can speak at a regular (or even a lower) volume than normal without worrying.

"A lot of people will ask, 'Why don't you just turn the dialogue up?' Like, 'Just turn it up.' And...if only it were that simple," Kendrick said. "If you have your dialogue that's going to be at the same volume as an explosion that immediately follows it, the explosion is not going to feel as big. You need that contrast in volume in order to give your ear a sense of scale."

Other experts have claimed there are a number of benefits for using subtitles, especially for children, following a groundbreaking study.

Henry Warren, co-founder of the Turn on the Subtitles campaign, believes parents should switch on the captions when kids are watching something as it gives them a chance to boost their literary skills.

It follows research that doing precisely that could double the chances of children leaving school as proficient readers.

Warren told The Times: “Turning on the subtitles can give children an opportunity to increase their vocabulary and help turn them into proficient readers.

“If you turn on the subtitles, then in just a year kids would ‘read’ the same number of words that are in all the Harry Potter, Narnia and Lord of the Rings books as well as everything Roald Dahl wrote.”

The research comes from education software maker Access Education, which found that showing youngsters popular TV shows like Peppa Pig and Paw Patrol with subtitles on improved the reading ability of those aged four to seven.

The next time you watch Bluey, turn the subtitles on.