I’ve recently started catching up on podcasts again, and this time I’ve discovered Rene Ritchie’s Vector. It’s officially a YouTube show, covering the latest news and insights into the world of Apple and technology, but there’s also an audio-only podcast which is my preferred method.

As I’m a little behind, I was listening to the shows released around WWDC, and this episode about the new tvOS caught my attention.

Specifically this bit towards the very beginning:

Starting with the new homescreen, Apple has made it dynamic now. So whatever app is highlighted can just start playing video and showing off content to you right away. It’s meant to be more immersive and draw you in faster to new and interesting shows, games and experiences, but I just don’t know.

Netflix has been doing this for a while and I find it incredibly annoying because it means I can’t stop browsing for even a second to do anything else. Anything that requires even a modicum of concentration without being bombarded by a noisy trailer.

Rene goes on to say that it’s the noise that bugs him most. For me, it’s not so much that as I have almost all of my devices on silent for the majority of the day. I just don’t like autoplay of anything, full stop, and especially when it doesn’t even look like a thing that would autoplay. You see an embedded video, you know there’s a chance it might start playing. You see a screenshot of a movie, you don’t automatically think a trailer is going to start rolling straight away.

I had thought this was a Netflix only thing and at the moment I’ve paused my Netflix subscription. The company has gone down a little bit in my estimation (another price hike, cancelling One Day at a Time with a terrible explanation, and this concept which has just made me think a little). I still need to watch Stranger Things, of course, but I’m thinking I’ll wait a few weeks, and bump off that and the final season of OITNB in one go, then cancel again.

Anyway, I had thought pausing my Netflix subscription meant I wouldn’t have to deal with the auto-loading sneak-up-on-you trailer business, but it turns out Apple is in that game too. Oh well, time to just get used to it instead, I guess!