This past Friday, an unfortunate tragedy took place at Fairfield Warde High School. It is a scene far too many students are familiar with, and an issue few teachers fully understand.
During his third period AP Literature class, beloved teacher Mr. Frattaroli was bested by YouTube Autoplay, a well-documented enemy of teachers. After showing his class a video about the life of Virginia Woolf, his back was turned as the dreaded outline slowly made its way around the “play” icon for the next video.
“It was one of the most intense moments of my life,” witness and student Jessica Richards told the Focus. “He had no idea. We tried to warn him, but it was too late.”
Chaos ensued.
“We all saw it coming, but there was no stopping it. He didn’t stand a chance,” student Mitchell Ransden said with a traumatized middle-distance stare.
According to reports, Mr. Frattaroli was unable to reach the computer in time. The students hesitated to warn him out of politeness, but by the time their shouts of, “it’s going to start the next video!” were heard by the teacher, it had been too long.
As Mr. Frattaroli rushed back to his computer, the students were left to stare in horror as the next video finished loading and began playing. The first two seconds of an educational video on Jane Austen played before Mr. Frattaroli could reach the spacebar and stop the anxiety and madness.
“It was… horrifying,” said student Erin Harrington. “We saw it coming, but he was facing away from the screen. We just… we couldn’t warn him in time.”
The guidance office is offering therapy to any students affected by this event, and computer science students have also volunteered to give basic technology tutorials to all Fairfield Public Schools staff.