I have to say, as a geriatric millennial, I am proud to be on trend with something at this point in my life, even if that thing may sound kind of like I’m literally an old lady. Enter the rise in popularity of closed captions. They’re making a comeback, y’all. Though I’m not sure it was something popular that went away in the first place for it to come back, but I digress.
It is definitely a thing for Gen Z, however. In fact, Kelly Gibson on TikTok shared a now-viral video where she took a poll about who is watching closed captions on the regular and how old they are. This idea came from when her three daughters came home from school for break.
“I have three daughters, and they were here,” Gibson explained. “Two of them are young millennials, and the other one is an older Gen Z.” When they were having a movie night, she said that all of her kids were like, “Why don’t you have the captions on?”
Gibson said that as a Gen Xer, she grew up only seeing closed captions used at her grandparents’ house. She said, “My Gen X butt was shocked to find out that these young people have decided it’s absolutely OK to watch movies with the captions going the whole time,” she exclaimed.
The poll results were interesting to say the least. Most Gen Xers and older millennials said they did not use closed captioning, while younger millennials and Gen Zers were.
One Gen Xer said in the comments that her Gen Z kids ruined her. “I can’t hear without the captions now,” she lamented.
Many commenters said that it helped with their audio processing, especially if they have ADHD. For my geriatric millennial husband and I, the habit started after we had our son. We left the TV on super low so as to not wake him (he was a horrible sleeper) and we couldn’t hear what was going on, so we decided to use the captions so we didn’t miss anything. It ruined us for life, too, because now I can’t focus on anything or hear what anyone’s saying on TV if we don’t use it.
Gibson said her daughters told her some very good reasons for using captions. Mainly, she said, it was easier for them to multitask while watching TV, and it’s also helpful for not missing any crucial information or details in the show or movie, especially if the character is whispering.
Gibson said, the younger generations just get more out of it. “If somebody talks to them in the middle of the show, they can still read and get what’s going on even if they can’t hear clearly. Why are young people so much smarter than us?!”
A version of this post was published in January 2024. It has been updated.
