Ringer Volume/Media Volume
Ringer Volume/Media Volume
[A x-y-graph is shown and the header above is:] Trying to turn down the volume before a video starts playing:
[At the line graph the horizontal axis is labeled with the text "Time" and an arrow pointing to the right. The vertical axis represents the volume but has no label. There are two signed lines, "Ringer volume" in black and "Media volume" in gray roughly at the same level. Below are eight smartphone screens showing the running app over time.]
[The first seven screens showing a circle indicating that an app is loading. At the second screen a volume control is depicted with an arrow to the lower button.] TAP TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" decreases four times.]
[Further in time before the third screen the volume control is depicted again with an arrow to the upper button.] TAP TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" increases to normal.]
[Nothing happens on the 4th screen but at the 5th the volume control is shown again with an arrow to the lower button.] TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" decreases three times.]
[Before the 6th screen the volume control is shown, again with an arrow to the upper button.] TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" increases back to normal.]
[At the 7th screen there is again the volume control with an arrow to the lower button.] TAP TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" decreases four times.]
[Before the 8th screen the volume control is shown with an arrow to the upper button and the tapping starts:] TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" increases two times, still below normal, and the video starts at the screen.] TAP TAP [The "Media volume" increases two times above normal.] Person in the video: HELLO, AND WELCOME TO...

Most smartphones , when this comic was published, have multiple system-level sound volume settings, such as, phone call ringer volume, timed alarm volume, phone communication volume, and media volume (which covers video, music, games and such). For comparison, personal computers tend to expose the user to a master sound volume control by default, which affects all the sounds emitted by system. Applications that emit sound (other than basic interface sounds, such as clicking) tend to implement a separate volume control.
Further, smartphones often have a pair of hardware buttons for raising or lowering sound volume. However, they don't differentiate which of the available volume controls the user wants to adjust. Smartphone operating systems tend to adjust the volume level of the currently emitted sound type, with some defaulting to the phone call ringer in the case no sound is playing. Adjusting arbitrary volume control is usually possible using a system settings app controlled by touch screen, which can take more time than pressing dedicated buttons, and/or stopping the program currently being used, depending on the smartphone in question.
The comic demonstrates, using a time axis, a typical annoyance generated by this kind of setup. A implied user wants to play a video clip but expects its sound volume to be too loud, so the user starts to preemptively press the volume down button. However, since the video clip just started loading while the user preemptively pressed the button, this adjusts the phone ringer volume instead of media volume. The user proceeds to raise the ringer volume and waits until the information box about ringer volume being adjusted disappears from screen, then tries again. Since the video is still loading this still doesn't work. Apparently the application needs to start emitting sound before the possibility of adjusting that sound with volume buttons arises. This is exactly what eventually happens - the video starts uncomfortably loud and the user's delayed reaction while attempting to readjust ringer volume level leads, in fact, to raising the media volume. At this point the graph ends, though the user is implied in the title text to proceed to reduce the video's volume directly afterwards.
Despite most applications implementing separate sound controls, Windows has also offered the option to adjust volume on per-activity basis since at least Windows 95. You can access this feature on Windows 10 by right-clicking the speaker icon on the tray, and selecting the "Open Volume Mixer" option. This setup is roughly equivalent to opening system settings on a smartphone, in that user can see multiple volume controls and select to adjust some. Additionally, some versions of Windows made the system tray volume control only affect the currently focused program, sort of analogously to described smartphone behavior, in that a single interface area can correspond to different volume controls depending on the context. However, this feature has been removed in more recent versions, presumably to reduce user confusion.
The title text presents a method of exploiting the phenomenon presented in the main comic by putting important parts of an advertisement very early in the video clip in loud audio form. Since user may have problems with adjusting video sound volume before it starts playing, this will result in the important part of ad (here, product name) emitted very loudly, to the levels of narrator of title text expecting it to reach people in other rooms than one the smartphone is in.
[A x-y-graph is shown and the header above is:] Trying to turn down the volume before a video starts playing:
[At the line graph the horizontal axis is labeled with the text "Time" and an arrow pointing to the right. The vertical axis represents the volume but has no label. There are two signed lines, "Ringer volume" in black and "Media volume" in gray roughly at the same level. Below are eight smartphone screens showing the running app over time.]
[The first seven screens showing a circle indicating that an app is loading. At the second screen a volume control is depicted with an arrow to the lower button.] TAP TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" decreases four times.]
[Further in time before the third screen the volume control is depicted again with an arrow to the upper button.] TAP TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" increases to normal.]
[Nothing happens on the 4th screen but at the 5th the volume control is shown again with an arrow to the lower button.] TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" decreases three times.]
[Before the 6th screen the volume control is shown, again with an arrow to the upper button.] TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" increases back to normal.]
[At the 7th screen there is again the volume control with an arrow to the lower button.] TAP TAP TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" decreases four times.]
[Before the 8th screen the volume control is shown with an arrow to the upper button and the tapping starts:] TAP TAP [The "Ringer volume" increases two times, still below normal, and the video starts at the screen.] TAP TAP [The "Media volume" increases two times above normal.] Person in the video: HELLO, AND WELCOME TO...
