Why I Stopped Watching YouTube Videos at 1.5x Speed

I used to breeze through YouTube videos at 1.5x speed, thinking I was optimizing my time. But recently, I hit pause on the speed toggle. Slowing down to normal speed has changed the way I consume content—it’s not only personally rewarding, but it’s also given me some unexpected benefits to how I utilize my tech.

1 My Phone’s Battery Doesn’t Drain as Fast

You might think I’ve got it the wrong way around, that watching videos at normal speed (and therefore longer lengths) would use more battery power. But that’s not true.

At 1.5x speed, I sometimes missed things, forcing me to rewind by double-tapping multiple times throughout a video. That frequent interaction with the screen drained my iPhone’s battery faster than just letting it play at normal speed. I hardly need to touch the screen to rewind when watching at regular speed, and this hands-off approach makes my battery last a bit longer.

Tracking exactly how much longer proved to be difficult because the number of times I’d hit the screen varied depending on the content, and there were also other variables. But I’d say it averaged out to 3-5% extra battery drainage per hour of watch time at 1.5x speed. Perhaps this doesn’t sound like much, but it could be all it takes for your phone to die on you during an important call.

Keep in mind that my overall battery capacity is 79%, so I’m not working with the strongest equipment here. But that’s exactly why doing things that save my iPhone battery is worth it.

2 Smoother Streaming on Slow Wi-Fi

Like probably every household, our Wi-Fi gets a bit slow sometimes. Depending on the device you’re watching on, the quality you’re watching at, your Wi-Fi’s speed, and your server, among other factors, streaming YouTube videos at 1.5x speed may not be an issue for you at all—or it may even load faster.

I haven’t observed this happening on my iPhone or Android phones, but whenever the internet gets slow, streaming at faster speeds on my PC does result in longer buffering than streaming at normal speed. I couldn’t tell you why; not even Reddit could help me find an answer—I’m betting on buffer speed simply being unpredictable.

Whatever the cause, if streaming YouTube videos at the normal speed allows me to avoid long buffer times and interruptions when the Wi-Fi acts up, that’s a win.

3 Better Audio Quality and Comprehension

I’m not talking about the technical aspects of audio quality such as distortion or pitch. YouTube adjusts the pitch to differing playback speeds using a technique called time-stretching, so the pitch is unaffected anyway.

I’m talking about the value you’re getting from what you hear. As I mentioned, watching at 1.5x speed meant I sometimes missed important nuggets, but rewinding every single time was counterproductive—might as well watch at normal speed at that point.

So there’s no doubt that I misheard things, or just missed them entirely. Watching YouTube videos at normal speed allows for much better comprehension; the same is true when you stop listening to podcasts at 2x speed.

4 Streaming at 1.5x Speed Just Looks Silly

You get used to the appearance of a faster playback speed without even realizing it. It wasn’t until I streamed a movie (at normal speed) on Netflix and headed to YouTube right after that I realized just how ridiculous the 1.5x playback speed looks.

This contrast between fast-moving YouTube videos and normal-paced content elsewhere, or even watching real life move by at a normal pace, was starting to do my head in. I actually subconsciously started reaching for the playback button in real scenarios to speed things up, like when waiting for my food in the microwave. It was time to un-fry my brain by learning how to live in the moment.

Now, whenever I test out the 1.5x playback speed, or even faster, I can only laugh at myself for thinking it looked or felt good. Saving five minutes of watch time is not worth losing my perception of time.

Slowing down YouTube videos to the pace they’re meant to be watched has given me a new appreciation for the content I consume, plus I’m able to catch more nuances. Watching YouTube videos at any rate faster than 1x might be doing yourself a disservice.