2x speed, zero patience? The new way we watch

Playback speed feature was largely used to swift through lectures, podcasts and recipes during and after pandemic. Now, people are reaching for it even during thrillers, romances and prestige dramas.. Slow burns are being fast-tracked. Long silences? Shortened. Even heartbreak is being sped through. There’s simply too much to watch and too little time. For some, 1.5x or 2x is a survival tactic - a way to keep up with the group chat and avoid FOMO. For others, though, it borders on cinematic blasphemy. If a director crafted a pause, stretched a long take, let silence do the talking before a heartbreak, was it meant to be hurried past?The question is no longer whether this habit is new. It isn’t. As media libraries grow, the real question is whether, in trying to consume everything, viewers are still allowing anything to sink in. Or are stories becoming just another box to tick off a watchlist?Nishi Joshi, psychotherapist and SEL Counsellor & Educator, observes that the trend reflects more than just convenience. “We are becoming less comfortable with pauses, silence and gradual emotional build-up, elements that are central to deep storytelling,” she says. “Our relationship with time has shifted from experiencing it to optimising it.”When streaming platforms first introduced variable playback speeds in 2019, filmmakers pushed back. The Incredibles director Brad Bird called it “another cut to the already bleeding-out cinema experience”, while Knocked Up filmmaker Judd Apatow described the feature as “ridiculous and insulting”. Ant-Man director Peyton Reed called it "a terrible idea" at the time. 'Real movies can't be watched in 2x! It's blasphemy!'Some viewers are dismissive of the idea of speeding up films and TV. “What is the point in writers and directors, and actors, thinking about scene pacing and joke delivery or beautiful lingering shots if the viewers are just watching on fast-forward? And isn't a huge part of why we watch TV and film to relax and slow down?” Ellie Harrison, TV editor at the Independent, argued recently. "Even though some movies deserve to be watched in 2x (I'm looking at you, Dhurandhar), I would still prefer to watch at normal speed because the essence of a movie gets lost otherwise. The dramatics and the slowed-down pace that focus on storytelling are important to the plot," says Bharat, 37, an avid fan of crime thrillers, citing Mare of Easttown as an example of a show whose deliberate pacing builds character and mood. Sameeksha, in her late 20s, says she would rather break a film into 30-minute instalments over three days than rush through it. She says, "There is so much drama in those quiet pauses and silences. Characters reveal themselves through their dialogue delivery. Imagine rushing past the monologue in Gone Girl or the restaurant scene in Inglourious Basterds. Real movies can’t be watched in 2x. It’s blasphemy."'Watching at 2x saves time and I can finish more shows and movies'“The rise of 2x viewing reflects a time-conscious consumer who values control and flexibility. It’s less about impatience and more about optimisation,” says Raghavendra Hunsur, Chief Content Officer, ZEEL. “Our response is not to dilute storytelling, but to sharpen it. Creative teams are focusing on tighter pacing and stronger hooks to ensure stories remain immersive across formats.”Kirti Shinde, in her early 20s, says she began using 1.5x during long, stretched scenes. “It kept things moving. I didn’t zone out as much,” she says. She mostly uses the option for K-dramas. “I’m reading subtitles anyway. I can read faster than they speak, so 2x doesn’t bother me.” For her, it’s about efficiency. “Watching at 2x saves time, and I can finish more shows and movies. Sometimes I don’t want to commit weeks to something.”Prachi Saini, a media student in her 20s, admits the habit began as a shortcut. Required to watch several shows she didn’t enjoy for coursework, she started speeding through them. Now, it’s routine. “If I’m not fully invested in what I am watching, I watch passively or on 2x. There's really nothing to miss when I know from Season 1 that Lorelai is going to end up with Luke,” she says. “I think about the sunk cost fallacy. I care enough to know what happens next, but not enough to give it more time than it deserves.”Viraj Raundal, 23, admits music is the biggest loss when watching at 2x. “The music, yes. I do feel like I miss out on listening to it how the creator meant for it to be, but the rest, no.” For him, however, it is more about saving time. “The counter thesis to watching series at 2x isn't me watching them at 1x. It's that I won't watch it at all.”Nishi sees both sides. “Speeding up content can be a practical adaptation to information overload. But if speed becomes the default, we risk losing patience for nuance, silence, and emotional depth, the very qualities that allow art to move us,” she says, adding, “It mirrors the same reward-driven patterns as social media scrolling. We begin to prioritise novelty and speed over depth. The risk isn’t faster consumption, it’s a more superficial relationship with stories.”Actor Rajkummar Rao had once admitted to watching content on OTT platforms at 1.5x speed, sometimes because of pacing, and sometimes because of what he described as lazy dialogue delivery. Last year, YouTube introduced more granular speed controls, allowing increments of 0.05 instead of 0.25. Premium users can watch content at up to 3x speed.A 2023 YouGov study found that 27 per cent of respondents stream television at higher playback speeds, while 13 per cent of podcast listeners periodically boost audio to super-speed. The practice is significantly more common among those under 25 — nearly twice as many compared to those over 25"I use faster playback for almost everything except music. Whether it is Netflix, ZEE5, YouTube, or even something like Shark Tank, I am comfortable at 1.5x or 2x as long as the platform allows it. The only time I switch back to normal speed is when there is a particularly powerful scene or background score that I want to fully absorb. In those moments, I rewind and watch that portion at 1x. But otherwise, I have trained myself to process stories comfortably at a faster pace," shares Yashica Shetty, 26. She doesn't feel she is losing out on anything as she believes, "Once you get used to the rhythm, it starts feeling natural. Even pauses and emotional beats feel proportionate because your brain adjusts."Like many viewers today, Yashica feels watching on 2x is more of a necessity than a choice, "Between work and personal time, there are limited hours left for entertainment. It is less about impatience and more about fitting stories into a tightly scheduled day."