Recently, I’ve been trying to explain streaming to my parents who are 92 and 97. So far, I’m just using their Samsung Smart TV, since it was already there (with none of the “Smart” previously used.)
I’ve noticed that many of the apps we have tried on that platform do return to the same place when you leave them and come back. My reaction tends to be: Oh, interesting, that’s convenient, I guess. But my parents don’t like it at all. They want there to always be an exact procedure like: Press Home, press Right arrow three times, press Enter, Press Down arrow… They don’t like reacting to the state of things on TV. (Which is a bit of challenge for streaming in general.)
Oh yeah, and environments that have an Exit button (like Windows) vs environments that don’t (like Android) is another interesting subject. And then there are apps on either platform where you have to press OK or SAVE after changing settings, and apps where you don’t.
And then there’s the business of explaining to my parents that the highlight in an app can be, pretty much anything. In the Samsung Home screen, the highlighted app gets bigger. On Netflix, the highlighted show is outlined. They keep asking why, and I keep saying: I didn’t design it!
Oh, and if this hasn't been covered before: An app returning to the same place doesn't mean the app has been streaming all that time. In fact, if it comes back to the exact same place in the video, that implies that it hasn't been.
Banned but back. Because why not?
