Spoiler alert

Spoilers may not always be as bad as they seem

Nathan Reed, Staff Writer

If you’ve watched “Avengers Endgame”, you’ve likely faced or have been facing detrimental spoilers. But could those spoilers give you a better experience?

Knowing more about what will happen can make a story more exciting by letting the reader know about an event before they read it.

At the University of California, San Diego, Jonathan D. Leavitt and Nicholas J.S. Christenfeld conducted a study in which they tested the effect of spoilers with multiple subjects.

Some subjects had a spoiler paragraph which was briefly discussed to them before the story, while other subjects had the story unspoiled, and the last subjects had a spoiler paragraph in the beginning of the story they were reading.

Most of the subjects said that they preferred the spoiled version of the story over the unspoiled version.

Although spoilers can lead to a better viewing or reading experience, most people still want to watch something ‘spoilerless.’

Spoilers can reduce the suspense and overall enjoyment of a story, especially for the people who have been waiting to watch a movie they’ve been looking forward to.

While you were probably waiting to watch Avengers Endgame, you’ve likely encountered spoilers from students at school, while at work, looking through social media, or from your friends and family members.

Depending on what the spoiler is, like a major event or a small detail, can impact a person’s experience in a positive or negative way.

Some people, while reading books, might want to flip a few pages ahead to see what happens next. Knowing about the plot can help the reader focus on the rest of the story more.

While reading the end of a book series, I was focused on what would happen to the main character, rather than the other events happening in the story.

Sometimes, I would flip a few pages ahead, then figuring out what happens and helping me focus on the other details of the book.

This is similar to watching a movie a second time and pointing things out you didn’t see before. Doing this could enhance your experience since you would look forward to a certain part of a story.

Knowing more of the details, such as something shortly mentioned or shown can make it more enjoyable.

A person can still feel suspense even if they knew what would happen next. Actually seeing or reading the story is different than hearing about what happened since it provides more detail than what’s told.

Spoilers help you enjoy a movie, show, or book more once you get to hear about them, but you still shouldn’t spoil stories for everyone. People want to find out for themselves.
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