Wednesday, October 22

WFMW: Surfing with the Sound Off

Right off the bat, I need to admit this post is part "tip" for bloggers, part "rant" against my latest pet peeve. Bear with me, will you please?

As you may recall, I recently got speakers on my computer. Can I tell you how excited I am about being able to watch all the little YouTube clips everybody posts? Well, okay, I'm excited to see some of the clips people post.

I've discovered a darker side to surfing with the sound up, though. Some people think it's cute to have sound or video clips set to automatically play as their page loads. Please, please, for the love of all that's not waking my daughter up while I'm on the computer after she's asleep: If you are one of these people, I beg you to change the settings on your site! Surely it would be just as simple to have a nice little "play" button for everyone who wants to hear/see/experience the media, and the rest of us will be left in peace.

Well, there's my plea. Unfortunately, since not everyone reads my blog (and a misguided few probably don't even agree with me that this is a horrid waste of bandwidth) further steps must be taken. This is the tip part, for those of you who have been waiting.

I've taken to surfing with the sound down. Sometimes I turn my speakers off. Occasionally, I'll set the volume to mute. Mostly, though, I just turn it waaaaaaay down. That way, as I'm innocently wending my way through the world wide web, my tender ears aren't assaulted by loud noises, and my daughter doesn't wander into the living room wanting to dance in the middle of the night.

For more tips to brighten your day (most without ranting commentary) visit Rocks in My Dryer.

7 comments:

  1. I used to be one of those people with music that automatically played when you came to my blog. I've since changed my ways and do have to agree with you. There are a couple blogs that I just adore, but I have to make sure the speakers are off or way down before I check them out. :)

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  2. Amy, I agree with you! I surf with the sound down or off..but once in a while I forget (we turn it up loud for the kids' phonics lessons) and late at night I jump right out of my seat when I click over to someone's blog and they have a song load!! Ayi-ayi!!!!

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  3. I agree! I hate music on blogs. I will be sitting here at night with my baby in my lap trying to get him to sleep, and well I forget everytime about the music, and it always wakes him up. Ugh!

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  4. I totally agree. I keep my sound on mute and then turn it up if I want to listen!

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  5. I am always scrambling for the speaker to turn it down if I had forgotten to turn it down before when surfing. I've almost fallen out of the chair sometimes when I go to a site. LOL!

    Thank you for sharing! :D

    Happy WFMW!
    Sherry

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  6. I just keep my computer on mute all the time. That way, I never have to worry.

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  7. Amen, sister! It's especially annoying if I'm listening to a CD while surfing - then it's dueling soundtracks!

    I'd love to hear the flip side of this argument, though, since there sure a LOT of people with music on their sites these days. Wonder what their thought process is?

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