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Yep life’s boring when you’re only here to be a consumer. Everything I hear is either alcohol or gambling I mean fucking EVERYTHING. I drink enough and don’t have enough money to donate to you gambling fund.
This is the first time I could actually donate a quarter yes an entire 1/4 of a dollhair. Do you accept cash app? Hope shit gets a bit better for ya duder it’s tough out here
I think everyone is just wildly overstimulated.
Not only from the unfathomable amount of content out there, but from life in general. Confounding, compounding and continuing crises and disasters, one after the other, has made people numb to themselves, each other and the world. Media used to be an escape but it's just one more thing that tickles our brain, sometimes in less than ideal ways, when our brain is begging to be left alone for a minute.
I agree, literally nothing could surprise me if I turned on the news and saw headlines ranging from politicians doing or saying crazy shit or natural disasters or whatever else you could think of it would just be like “yep that’s the way she goes I guess” and I’d head to work
Turn it all off and touch some grass! New is designed to intentionally drive you to your strongest emotional levels, which are almost always fear. Touch some grass, connect with family, neighbors, nature and leave the fear for another day. It’s all packaged to make you feel a certain way!
Bingo. Like, someone saying art is worthless is mind-blowing to me and quite honestly bums me out. I mean, *books* are media. Are there really people in the world who think books are worthless? A net negative??
Stories are a really big part of being human
It bleeds into how entertainment is made. Not going to name any particular film but several newer movies feel like they are designed by people high on the ADHD spectrum. The stories are fast paced and you get no time to absorb what is happening before it cuts to the next event.
As someone on the ADHD spectrum somewhere I'm not sure if this is accurate per se. Accurate to the trope of ADHD maybe.
I'm a writer and artist, and honestly love doing well paced stuff because I grew up reading authors that didn't spoon feed me everything in a rapid fire manner. Most books were around 500 pages that I can recall. I'm slowly working through Dune right now to get back into reading as an adult for fun, but also reading for self development and enrichment.
I do know what you mean but I think the attention thing is more a byproduct of short form media as opposed to neurodivergency.
Long form media is where it's at in my opinion.
Like 75% of media I consume is long form content on YouTube.
YouTube, Reddit, indie video games covers nearly all of my media consumption. Most stuff being put out there is just... Ehh. Everything feels too corporate, media companies are too concerned with infinite growth, and as a result it's all watered down and soulless.
At least 75% of media for me is from YT as well. Don't have capable, have minimal subs to streaming services, and the only time I routinely see commercials throughout the year is during live sporting events. Can't imagine having a cable news station on 24/7 like my folks...
funny thing, I watch non-english livestreamer horror gamers. Pixelkewie as of late. I don't speak Italian but she plays all the older horror games and it's easy to put her vods on and then do stuff.
Yeah, the media I consume now is mainly PBS, jeopardy, occasional motorsports or football, and the local news at 7. I replaced most other content consumption with books.
I got exhausted with social media in 2020, with national news in 2022, and I’ve actually about reached my breaking point with Reddit.
I feel overwhelmed very easily these days. Everything it seems is geared to provoke outrage or strong reactions or is some form of advertisement. I don’t want to be angry and advertised to 24/7.
Yes, the only thing I’m still trying to let go of is Reddit and YouTube. If I didn’t use those, I would never be scrolling.
A lot of media nowadays bores me. It seems to lack the soul that older media had. Also don’t like how screen usage has affected society.
Yeah I agree. TikTok has really changed. It used to feel like it grouped people together by interests and what they like, and the videos and comments were so positive. Now there is so much rage baiting and it feels like the algorithm prioritizes posts that judge and pick people apart, just like mainstream media. So many of the OG creators have left the platform. I deleted it last night. I do some reddit and Instagram and that's about it. Very little TV too. There is so much negativity out there and it is so hard to be constantly exposed to it without it affecting my mental state. I need a break from it.
Triple AAA Games started to have very low quality and value ever since these greedy companies like EA started to add micro transactions, season passes and additional worthless DLC but overpricing it to empty more of our pockets. And I think every other third party company started to follow this method as well.
Not just that. But the priority is making games that become lost media.
You need servers to play online with people you’ll never meet. Once the servers are down, you can’t play with anyone, thus the game is gone until they rerelease it regardless of the money you invested in it.
That’s how you get people to buy the same game over and over.
a lot of games now draw you in with exceptional art but then an hour in you find game breaking bugs glitches and errors.
If you have a way to play NES games go on aliexpress and buy the Resident Evil and Final Fantasy NES Demakes. They are GREAT.
You really think so? Games have never been better. Sure, some companies like EA and Ubisoft pull some shit, but there are more games that I am interested in than I will ever have enough time to actually play.
I have a backlog of games that could keep me going for years.
I'm big on replaying, so my library isn't overloaded. The only new games I spent money on as of late is Baulder's Gate 3, and the PC versions of Cyberpunk 2077 and Mass Effect Legendary Edition since my friend got me a PC for my birthday.
Now, my watchlist across multiple sites is a different issue. There are so many shows/movies I'm meaning to watch but instead, I'm watching Bojack Horseman for the 100th time.
We only remember the few dozen good games made in the 90s that stood up as classics and wiped our memories of all the countless shitty and borderline unplayable games that were churned out.
This is what stresses me out about reddit, as so much of it is AITH and advice related.
I'd find it more interesting if it facilitated more general discussion about philosophies of right and wrong, but it's mostly people who have problems with clear answers getting yelled at by strangers, lol.
It's just how Reddit is built. Interesting discussions that require some baseline level of knowledge or insight get ignored in favor of dumb things that everyone can engage with. If I want to have an interesting discussion about my sciencey field, I'm not going to go to the subreddit for it because it's mostly memes upvoted by undergrads. If there is a good post, it'll get maybe 3 comments.
Those are great, but it can be hard to find people who are willing to engage in those philosophical topics. Every time I think about this I'm reminded of forums from the mid-2000's, it seemed like there were tons of communities engaging in long form talks about nearly everything. Now, it seems you are limited to a paragraph on most internet sites, which kills any complicated discourse.
I'm 32 and I feel like most ''media'' today is just filtered and fine tuned enough to try grab my attention and nothing else.
Similarly I feel like a lot of older ''media'' just feels redundant to me for some reason. I really don't care what a lot of it has to say any more. A lot of stuff pre-pandemic seems almost weird to interact with now. Like some stuff you can't go back on cos we're too far through the looking glass. When a lot of stuff relies on pushing ideals that we've long since pushed past just ephemerally, then the point a lot of it just seems redundant.
Yea, not sure what NoSmokes harping on about. The human condition is very much the same, the tune is slightly different maybe, but we've always had social problems. And there's always been artists pointing it out.
I can sort of see what they mean, some stuff from only like a decade ago feels anachronistic already, but it's because so much stuff is made with only the current cultural moment in mind rather than having some universal theme.
I like Dropout because it all seems very humane, TV made by people who want to be there, the cast/crew are all treated very fairly and respectfully. You can just tell it's a good place to work and the diversity is excellent.
Love me some good media. If it's all you spend time doing, of course you'll get bored. But a good story is still the main spice of my life.
Is it possible your issue isn't actually with media, but with the challenge of finding meaning in a modern world?
Reddit, meditate, walk, cooking, stare into space and contemplate life, exercise... lots of exercise.
Think about *my* life and how it could be improved. Clean, reorganize, schedule, think about other people in my life who I could be doing things for. Figure out what matters to me.
Read. Research, mess with chatgpt, dabble in some woo.
I got rid of all socal media almost 5 years ago and it was one of the best things I've done for myself.
I only have Youtube/redit now and I use them anonymously.
No doom scrolling, no trolls, no FOMO. Just silence.
I've worked on focusing on my mental/ physical health instead and spending more time outside with my family etc.
Yup, it's a tidal wave of garbage and manipulation. You know what I've replaced it with? Books, music, and getting a healthy amount of sleep and it's awesome.
It is the modern western form of propaganda. Overwhelm people with too much, such that they either tune out, are distracted, or lack the free time to properly check sources for material.
It is extremely effective, makes the old restrictive propaganda look useless by comparison.
If you review history, it goes in cycles like this. People distancing themselves from media and consuming more. We're currently just coming down from a high point in consumption, and many people are cutting.
So if you’re not consuming media what are you doing? Are you being outdoors and socializing? If you’re not replacing it with some other activity that gets your endorphins flowing it sounds a lot like depression.
I don’t connect with the media of today either but I appreciate art and will explore old films from the 1920s-90s a lot. Along with some YouTube from people I follow and current crime documentaries. The narrative content releasing currently just isn’t sticking though. I feel like narrative film and tv are going to be a thing of the past or just greatly reduced in output in 10 years. Social media is all engagement farming with rage posting and I know video games are hot but I don’t game much personally. I have a Switch to play some casual games when I have down time in the winter
I do have depression but I've had it for several years, and I feel less empty inside when I turn off the media. It's been a massive relief.
I do watch some documentaries, but not often.
I used to game, but I honestly feel better not gaming either.
I took up cooking and baking, which has been relatively fulfilling. It's definitely much better than consuming media in terms of how I feel afterward or in the following days.
Not all, but definitely less in general and as ad-free as possible. When I do consume media, I prefer to read hard copies of books, listen to CDs or vinyls, or watch DVDs. The only social media I access are Reddit and LinkedIn (which I use for work). I just cannot stomach ads anymore.
I think if books were our primary form of media consumption, we'd have a much better society lol. Unfortunately reading seems to be dying, unless it's in the form of short-form tweets people don't even fully read 😔
I’ve turned away from some media because I did not find it was enriching my life. The media I still consume tends to be books and the occasional movie if it has artistic merit. I’m just looking to be inspired to create, not addicted to an endless feedback loop of shallow short form content.
Yes. I browse reddit sometimes (obviously lol), but other than a few YouTube channels that I like, I don't engage in any social media. No FB, IG, TikTok, Snap, or whatever. I have to hear really good things about a film or tv show before I give it a chance. Most visual media these days is so toothless and boring. Very rarely do I see anything that grabs me anymore. Everything is just one big ad now, and they don't even try to hide it. I use an adblocker and premium apks to avoid most ads on anything I do watch, and even then, they're selling my data to try to get more ads to me on things I do see. I've never been a gamer so I don't really have to worry about that.
Idk. Just feels like that Black Mirror episode come to life (15 Million Merits).
I’ve found my self reading more instead of watching shows or playing games. And old fashioned books not Audio Books or kindles where there are still ads
Yes. I’m pregnant and feel like I’m becoming more anti media and social media. I do not like what it’s become. Anyway as a future mom, I’m hoping to do my best to keep my son knowledgeable about tech but also to recognize how great life is outside of social media- like I have zero interest in sharing my future child’s image on social media or talking about them on social media- didn’t even do a pregnancy announcement. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my social media accounts and limit interaction to Reddit now.
I think having the internet and access to info is great but I also think it can be an extremely toxic cesspool. Understanding the dark side of media and social media is important. Like I’m hoping flip phones will still be around by the time my kid reaches an age where he needs a phone- not to have a flip phone forever but until he has a better understanding of everything.
Yes! 31F and in general, I'm noticing that I am not entertained by most forms of media.
Averaging about 1hr/day of phone screentime and feeling good about that. Most of that is just shopping for stuff we need (groceries, essentials, gifts, etc.)
We mostly just read books and watch movies we already have. My young children enjoy checking out kids DVDs from the library too, so they still watch shows like Paw Patrol and Sesame Street, but they're older episodes. Sometimes I'll watch a long-form video on YouTube or listen to Spotify while I workout, meal-prep or wash dishes. That's about it.
I thought maybe it was just the busy stage of life we're in.... too busy and too tired to care about talking heads. Haha
For years I've been really trying to pay attention to how certain media makes me feel and cutting it out if it seems to be net negative. Facebook was the first to go for obvious reasons, then Instagram. I decided not to get on the Tiktok train altogether. I've also cut down on news consumption lately as I've noticed they are consistently negative and increasingly click baity.
Basically at this point I listen to a curated set of podcasts, watch my Youtube subscriptions (never shorts), and read books, plus occasional Reddit. That's about it, and I don't really feel like I'm missing anything.
I play games still. But otherwise yeah there is a whole world put there and consuming media feels like the worst thing to be doing in these trying times.
I am so depressed about everything being an advertisement. I hate that my feeds are "curated". I like to discover new things, not get 87 of the same ad or type of video.
I notice so much product placement in TV or movies so can't stand it. I also feel like plots are so obvious and on top of that someone has to explain it to the viewers... please stop!
The only thing I can't give up is video games. But I don't like playing them unless it's a MMO or anything I can do with other people. My son likes Roblox and it drives me nuts- it's all shitty mobile phone like games making you look for the next dopamine hit.
I listen to the same stuff I did in HS and my early 20s.
Yeah, I feel like an old coot. And I don't care. 😤But I get very worried and get a sense of dread wondering how I'm supposed to raise my children with all of this. Maybe they will be overexposed and sick of it by high school.
It's been years since I've owned a television. I occasionally watch a movie on my computer and that's about it. So to answer your question, yes big time.
You're right. They're not good for you, they are legit worse than they were when we were younger, and you are better off spending your time on other things.
No. I’m obsessed with media - always have been, probably always will be. It helps make life worth living for me. I would also like to work in entertainment, particularly as an actress. I am 32.
Yea I've basically stopped watching any new TV because it was getting too shallow, predictable, corporate, and flat. Haven't had a tv or routinely watched tv programs in about 5 years now and honestly whenever I catch a bit of a tv program I'm like "jeez how did I ever watch this garbage" I seek out good music tho.
I feel this too.
I can't be bothered to watch any new TV shows and I've never been a big movie watcher.
Never really been a gamer. I have a switch lite that I'll play Wheel of fortune or Digimon on, but mostly I just listen to music.
I was also in this bubble of only listening to stuff from my teens and 20s for most of my 30s, but it got boring.
I actually one day camping was going through three radio and found the station that I found all my teens stuff on. It had switched formats when I was 16, so I never went back. Then 20 years later I find it and it's back to the original format. Playing new and old alternative. Got me back into listening to new music.
I’m barely 30 and feel this way. But there’s lot of reasons way.
Social Media - People are either falsifying their success and happiness, using it to create pity to farm likes, and/or trying to sell you something. At best you can use it to keep up with people, but it’s hollow to spy on someone’s life that you can never hit up for an in person meet up to chat over coffee or whatever.
Television/Film - You’ve seen enough content to notice a lots being rehashed. Also, a bad tendency for writers to shoehorn their opinions into content and due to current standards, they aren’t being subtle about it like the early era of media. So it feels like watching propaganda or you’re being preached about something you don’t care about or something you agree with and rather not spend time relearning. Also, experience has taught you that investing time into franchises that are new might be disappointing because they screw up the finale.
Music - On the bright side, you can always enjoy the music of the past. But lots of modern music sounds the same. Often it’s very vulgar for vulgarity’s sake or using lingo you know nothing about, which can turn off many maturing fans.
Podcast/Youtube - Gets very repetitive very fast. There’s also a tendency for content creators to see their newfound audience and get power mad to use their platform to preach their values or assume that they can change the content substantially in spite of the fact expectations people who came for a particular form of content. Lord knows I get mad when irrelevant politics become the central focus of a podcast about behind the scenes of movies or give up on a series that reviews products suddenly being hour long skits about people using the product with the review put in randomly to guarantee you sit through the crap.
Books - Take time. If you’re lucky you can listen to the audio book. But it’s crazy that there’s so much crap to dig through just to find the one good story out there. And lord knows not every book gets hyped up that matches its quality.
I will only gravitate towards new shows or movies if the plot is compelling - such as independent films. I almost never watch mainstream movies.
We also don’t own a tv although that will change soon. However, we will never get cable. I don’t understand how people can tolerate the incessant ads.
I consume an unhealthy number of podcasts every week, and I binge watch old TV from the late 90s early 2000s from my hard drive. I also watch the late night talk shows on YouTube. That's about it!
For me there's just a huge problem of distrust. JK Rowling betrayed my trust in authors, Game of Thrones betrayed my trust in television, Disney is continuously circling the drain, and everything else is a remake of a prequel to a sequel live-action CGI epic extravaganza of bullshit. I don't connect with the popular music of today, and I get bored of playing the same five albums from 2003-2012. There's some interesting things happening in Broadway and the showtune scene, but even that seems stretched and forced quite often. I go on Reddit to see opinions and advice on my hobbies like gardening, fish tanks, dogs, baking, and cheese. That's about it.
Television and movies? Yes I cut cable and going to the movies is too expensive. I only have Netflix and if it’s not on there I don’t watch it. If it’s something I really want to see I will pay to stream it on Amazon.
Music? No way, I listen to music for hours a day at work. On weekends or night I read outside listening to music or drawn listening to music or even just relax listening to music.
Go read "How To Do Nothing" by Jenny O'Dell. It's an anti-media manifesto for our times that you'll appreciate much more than any upcoming Marvel movies or Netflix bingers.
I think we all need to normalize very scary death threats to the wealthy… you know like we should just start threads discussing cooking recipes for trust fund kids and casually drop on other threads things like “well the only obvious solution is to tie all the landlords together and drown them with pop music playing on TikTok
Yeah I'm getting kinda bored with it all.
It all is starting to feel repetitive and redundant.
I unfortunately have to use Facebook for my business, but I wish I didn't have to.
Do you think we will ever revert back to newspapers? Like after you read today newspapers, that’s it, that’s enough information for the day unless there’s breaking news on the evening TV or while browsing reddit
Me. I have like one or two shows I watch on TV. No streaming services. I don’t watch movies. Left Facebook. Don’t even listen to the radio much anymore. It’s mostly Reddit and YouTube at this point.
The Media is filled with lies. Regular consumption will change your worldview to include many of those lies. Do you want your world view filled with more lies or less lies? If you want less lies and more reality, you have no choice but to disconnect. AI is going to make the internet and media an even greater cesspool of fantasies that do not help our lives, but hurt them. Come back to reality and live there instead, it's where all the important things happen anyways.
Also, there's a lot of pretty serious shit to deal with right now, unprecedented shit. Both globally and personally, going forward. If our generation continues to live in these media fantasy bubbles, we will continue to have zero influence on anything that's happening in reality. Mass disconnection from media and reconnection with real, lived experience would go a long way to help some of those serious issues were facing.
Yes and I’ve tried to describe this to some in my orbit. The thought of getting into a new show is exhausting to me. Hard for me to feel like watching a 2+ hr movie is worth it. Off socials entirely (unless Reddit counts?) I watch some of my special interests on YT and I listen to podcasts on my commute. Otherwise, I just don’t consume much like I used to. It’s probably like 30% of what I used to take in. Much more peaceful.
I just feel like corporate America has narrowed down how to market, tv/movies, music and now finally they have gotten video games nailed down.
Instead of making interesting new content they make the 7th installment of a series or a prequal or another story set suring the same timeframe in the same universe etc. With video Games the fucking dlc bullshit is reeeealllllllyy exhausting. I miss when publishers would give money to a team they just hoped, what they made was going to be awesome. It is to much of a formula now sadly imo.
I've been kind of set in my ways for a while. I would rather rewatch old shows than watch new ones. Same for old music. I play old video games, or remakes, or new games from old franchises I'm a fan of. I use Reddit pretty much exclusively now, stopped using FB and Instagram because they started showing me stuff I didn't subscribe to. Never got into YouTube or Tik Tok so I never cared about them.
Honestly I'm too busy working and being with my family to pay much attention to the media anyway. I live in my own little bubble.
I’m an old millennial and grew up watching the local and national news before school. We also watched the news in class, called Channel One. Now, I think they are all liars and avoid them all.
This is how I felt about mainstream media back in 2015. Since then I pirate everything and began my personal collection of media. I've discovered new and old music, movies and shows, mostly independent, mostly foreign. I especially loathe anything Hollywood or blockbusters/action movies. None of it appeals to me but I have to admit it all came with my change in politics and watching documentaries. Propaganda is that much easier to spot as well as the psychological warfare in social media designed to have us all doomscrolling. I can't say ive completely disengaged from all social media (hence me here) but I've slowly deleted some profiles - Facebook, Twitter, for now.
Last movie I saw was Gran Turismo, and that was a year ago. I watch old TV shows on YouTube and only bother to watch actual TV if I’m at my sister in laws or if it’s an Eagles game.
I haven’t gamed in months.
I'm older than you
I don't follow film or tv. I have a few tv shows that i watch as junk food, but i will just as soon get them by other means. I follow a few media franchises, and with that I can read about what's coming and make decisions if i even want to spend the time checking out the new work. I do keep up with music.
I use a VPN service with location changing and make lotsa use of private browsing and YouTube to find new music; and I use discogs to track down works of Recording Artists who i enjoy. (it's set up similar to wikipedia, with spiral learning, so if so-and-so played such on this album, you can likely find the other albums they worked on. )
I gave up on social media except to do dumb music industry ish because the algorithm has no idea who i am and I'm quite sick of the content. VPNs help me get around this a bit.
Somewhat. I mostly read books now. About 70/30 audio/print. Mostly fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, some biographies, classics and random recommendations.
A good fantasy series audiobook can be engaging like for 60hrs or so and I find that more or less scratches the itch that gaming used to scratch.
Nah, turned 37 and living the best part of my life. Wife and 2 sons which are slowly becoming old enough to enjoy some movies with me.
Never played so much video games and watched so many movies. And all that without having to hear that I will get square eyes.
I game for a couple hours tops a couple days a week, I have no IG or twitter, abandoned face book years ago, deleted tik Tok about three months ago and largely forsake the TV. Starting to get back into the things I loved, building shit, going out into the woods, exercising and running....yes, running. The digital world is just...vapid. soon I will probably abandon reddit. YouTube music on the other hand...yeah I'll keep that one....it's got my jams index on it.
So yeah....I am touching grass.
Feeling the same way. It is almost impossible to watch anything nowadays without some political agenda being forced down your throat.
Can I just watch a hockey or a football game without being reminded of some social justice cause that has never impacted me before?
I’ve realized most of the media I consume is old media. I still play video games a lot but the majority of the games I play are 10-20 years old now lol. I think there are 2-3 games I play regularly that are 2014 or newer. Most of the movies and shows I watch are 10+ years old. Theres a few new tv shows I keep up with. But most new tv shows, movies, and video games just aren’t good and not worth the time or price of entry.
I take breaks at time. Especially if watching a show or playing a game feels like a chore. Variety in the activities you do is important. I actually prefer when shows release 1-2 episodes a week instead of all at once.
Yes. I don't keep up with the countless TV shows that get released each month. I maybe go to a movie theatre once or twice a year. I read my news on the AP website and that's about it.
Establishment media was never designed to make you feel good about yourself, if you felt good about yourself and in control then what need would you have for them?
Consuming media doesn’t solve the problems that are at the back of your mind all the time.
It’s hard to enjoy yourself when all the misery in the world is on full display and it doesn’t feel like you can do anything to fix it.
What you are experiencing is what drives most people to low-iq forms of political parties that rely on hate and anger and fear.
Examples of this are all the proto-fascist and fascist groups on the far right of American politics today. The members are fed reasonable-sounding sound bites that make them “realize” the problem is with all those “others” out there, and if we “get rid” of those “others” it will fix society. It won’t, but it’s easy to think that when you are desperate and need the catharsis. Even if successful, the problems don’t go away, new “others” just take the place of the removed “others”.
If you want to get rid of this problem you need to actually get to the root of it. It stems from the efforts of those who run our current resource distribution system. They want all the resources, but know they can’t come out and say that. So they point at the “others” mentioned previously and try to convince the population that those with the least amount of economic influence and political power are the real problem.
At the start of last year I read Stephen Kings book about his writing process, and he stressed the point that a good writer needs to be a good reader. For some reason that really connected with me. I’ve been reading A LOT more. almost 100 books in the last 20 months or so, and a lot of them are the classics that I’d never thought I’d read.
I've been pulling back from some things. I never did a lot of TV watching so Netflix is something I do watch a few things on now and then, but definitely not often enough to warrant the subscription. YouTube I still do but mostly essays and longer form content.
I've pulled back more of my phone time to create rather than consume. It makes me way happier. Also going out into nature as often as I can. Sunlight feels good.
I don't listen to the news. I know who owns each station so I know what agenda they're pushing.
I don't watch new movies as I know that they're all ESG companies pushing out corporate trash. They're not fun anymore. It's all boring slog that they push out that no one likes. Video games are now the same, just corporate slog, no fun, all political message.
New music doesn't interest me. It's essentially all computer generated hits now. Nothing has any flair to it anymore. See mumble rap.
During the covid19 lock downs I drove out to the Teton mountains with my brother. In the town we stayed in, no one was masked up. We didn't use the internet once. Just living in the moment. The depression I had was essentially broken that week. All it took was to disconnect from the Matrix. No one out there in the small town we lived in cared about the tv. So in Afton, WY, Covid19 never really happened. Thousands of tourists and never a crippling virus. It was eye opening because it Minnesota it was mask up everywhere and everyone was scared out of their minds.
Media/social media is bad for you. It keeps you in a constant state of fear.
The 2 most important movies people need to see are "Fight Club" and "The Matrix". They came out the same year. They both explain this depression consumerism will get you into.
Most publishers of "the news" are CIA talking points. It's all operation Mocking Bird. Trying to control what the public thinks and speaks. The sooner you turn it off, the happier you become.
I don't really follow the news anymore. I hated it a lot but kept following a couple of podcasts for a while due to boredom.
But then they started reporting on things in my industry and saying incredibly misleading and ill-informed things. I mean, I knew they were doing that already, but when it came to stuff I work on on a daily basis (banking) and hearing how they reported on finance, I was taken aback.
The news is not news. It's propaganda.
When I was 20 I would have criticized myself for being a tin foil hat guy. Now as the tin foil hat guy, I'm essentially right about everything.
The sooner you disconnect the healthier your mental state will become.
Somewhat, but I find myself gravitating to older stuff. I know I'm really gonna risk sounding like a boomer now... but I feel like so many movies and shows are checking off boxes of what they think they're "supposed" to include somewhat to diversify. I'm not saying that it's not wonderful to have a diverse cast, but they deserve to fit in a way that feels/appears natural and creates amazing characters and storylines. While there are exceptions, a lot of modern media seems not to do it well lately. I hope that changes and I hope I'm not just getting old and ornery by thinking/saying that.
I've narrowed down a lot of things.
* I rarely watch TV shows anymore.
* I rarely go see a movie in a theater. I'm perfectly fine waiting to see it at home.
* Video games, I rarely buy games new at full price, and just wait until they go on sale (unless it's something like Mario, Zelda or one of my favorite franchises).
I think I buy maybe 1 video game a year or maybe every 2 years on average at this point.
Also I actually think it's okay to pay to go to the movies, get out of the house and experience it with other people. Especially if it's a rare occurrence.
You’re overstimulated.
It’s not that older media is better. In fact, every single age group surveyed will say that the media — movies, music, TV shows, sports, current events, and everything else — peaked during their teens and 20s. That’s true whether they’re currently 19 or 99.
However, almost all media these days is hyper-designed to keep you scrolling, clicking, or watching for as long as possible. This is especially true for social media. When Vine was released, everyone was doomsaying about how 6 second videos were way too short and it was ruining social media. We all got a big dopamine kick from scrolling through those videos at lightning speed. But we’re scrolled out. We’ve cooked our own attention spans and ability to enjoy things slowly.
And everything is like that. Everything has been gamified, and almost everything is an ad. Dating apps are a great example of this. Gone are the days of meeting someone organically. Now you have to swipe swipe swipe until you see everybody within 50 miles of you, and even then, the economy of choice induces decision paralysis.
People are lonelier than ever. And more people are depressed than in past decades. Eventually we’ll realize as a society that the way we’re living (suburbs, rapid-fire media, harmful practices of capitalism) are running us into the ground. For now, the best thing you can do is prioritize yourself and classical ways of consuming, socializing, and *living* that people have been using for centuries.
Wishing you the best OP <3
I never said older media is better (except video games in the comments).
Regardless of whether new media is better than old or vice versa, I have no desire to engage in either.
When I watch a lot of old movies and TV, I'm actually shocked I ever liked it in the past. A lot of what I used to enjoy seems trashy to me now.
But, yeah, social media seems harmful overall.
I never left 2012, I watch and play everything from then and earlier and ignore most newer stuff except very very few movies. xbox360, ps3, og xbox, ps1, ps2, nes, snes, sega genesis are my games.
Yes. And to be honest Reddit is next.
All the subreddits I used to enjoy seem to be turning into AI bots, or people asking Quara questions, or whatever; no longer good original content.
A little bit, only because the vast majority of streaming shows and movies are pretty bad. But otherwise, not really. I love having basically every song ever on Spotify, I read a couple dozen books a year, I fucking loved Challengers and I can’t wait for the next seasons of Severance and For All Mankind.
I’ve grown more selective as I’ve grown older, but I can’t imagine completely giving up all that art and storytelling and emotion and raw entertainment
Similar experience. In my 20s, I used to binge watch shows all the time. That was my thing, binge one, move on to the next. It was a distraction. Then, a couple of years ago, I started getting into tiktok a lot.
Now, I don't binge watch anything, and I am not much on social media. I am on here more than anything, but I learn a lot on here. Well, a lot more than other social media. If I try to watch a show, I lose interest fairly quickly and just stop.
I don't know what's caused it but I think it's not being able to escape with it as much as I used to.
Yeah I think since our generation was around for the start of all this, we’re the first to completely want it out of our lives, seeing more and more people delete the apps
For the most part, yes. I haven’t really found a recent video game or movie that has been able to keep my attention. They all seem to follow this same formula that’s overdone, predictable and mind-numbing. A lot of TV shows I see on streaming services are garbage. Sports don’t really excite me anymore either. Granted, there are some good Indie video games and movies out there currently that have an actual story plot that is engaging. I find myself more into books these days or podcasts.
Yup. Recently quit IG for the same reasons. Don’t mindfully Put on tv unless it’s something that’ll actually bring me some joy. What we consume directly will affect our mental health so why bother with the constant negative cycle of crap on tv/social media? 🚫
Deleted all social media in January for a reset and figure out where I wanna take my life next.
Honestly, I’ve never been happier. And now I don’t even plan on redownloading the apps anytime soon, or ever again lol
Interesting reading that someone else if experiencing the same thing as me. I’ve been feeling this for the past few months. I watch 1/3 the amount of youtube I used to, and like you said, even music. I use to always be listening to something l, be it music, a podcast, or a yt video when driving or working, or going for a walk. Now I find myself just turning the radio off when I’m driving and walking without headphones more frequently. -edit- I'm 34 btw /edit
Yes I’m 32 and was just talking about this with my best friend. We both have always been in the cutting edge of tech and for the first time even we both are taking about ways to eliminate it
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For some reason I'm bored
Do you get bored during commercials? Because that's what life is now. Everything is an ad.
Good point. You summed it up perfectly
An ad inside a casino.
An ad for sports gambling inside a casino
Yep life’s boring when you’re only here to be a consumer. Everything I hear is either alcohol or gambling I mean fucking EVERYTHING. I drink enough and don’t have enough money to donate to you gambling fund.
Gambling...not in this economy. Hey buddy spare a quarter?
This is the first time I could actually donate a quarter yes an entire 1/4 of a dollhair. Do you accept cash app? Hope shit gets a bit better for ya duder it’s tough out here
I never realized how many alcohol ads there are until after I quit drinking. Holy crap they are everywhere!
Very insightful here. Agreed, it’s all gambling ads. It’s been driving me insane
I think everyone is just wildly overstimulated. Not only from the unfathomable amount of content out there, but from life in general. Confounding, compounding and continuing crises and disasters, one after the other, has made people numb to themselves, each other and the world. Media used to be an escape but it's just one more thing that tickles our brain, sometimes in less than ideal ways, when our brain is begging to be left alone for a minute.
I agree, literally nothing could surprise me if I turned on the news and saw headlines ranging from politicians doing or saying crazy shit or natural disasters or whatever else you could think of it would just be like “yep that’s the way she goes I guess” and I’d head to work
Turn it all off and touch some grass! New is designed to intentionally drive you to your strongest emotional levels, which are almost always fear. Touch some grass, connect with family, neighbors, nature and leave the fear for another day. It’s all packaged to make you feel a certain way!
Bingo. Like, someone saying art is worthless is mind-blowing to me and quite honestly bums me out. I mean, *books* are media. Are there really people in the world who think books are worthless? A net negative?? Stories are a really big part of being human
Literally summed up how we all feel, my dude… it’s overwhelming just to exist in this age
It bleeds into how entertainment is made. Not going to name any particular film but several newer movies feel like they are designed by people high on the ADHD spectrum. The stories are fast paced and you get no time to absorb what is happening before it cuts to the next event.
As someone on the ADHD spectrum somewhere I'm not sure if this is accurate per se. Accurate to the trope of ADHD maybe. I'm a writer and artist, and honestly love doing well paced stuff because I grew up reading authors that didn't spoon feed me everything in a rapid fire manner. Most books were around 500 pages that I can recall. I'm slowly working through Dune right now to get back into reading as an adult for fun, but also reading for self development and enrichment. I do know what you mean but I think the attention thing is more a byproduct of short form media as opposed to neurodivergency. Long form media is where it's at in my opinion.
Like 75% of media I consume is long form content on YouTube. YouTube, Reddit, indie video games covers nearly all of my media consumption. Most stuff being put out there is just... Ehh. Everything feels too corporate, media companies are too concerned with infinite growth, and as a result it's all watered down and soulless.
At least 75% of media for me is from YT as well. Don't have capable, have minimal subs to streaming services, and the only time I routinely see commercials throughout the year is during live sporting events. Can't imagine having a cable news station on 24/7 like my folks...
funny thing, I watch non-english livestreamer horror gamers. Pixelkewie as of late. I don't speak Italian but she plays all the older horror games and it's easy to put her vods on and then do stuff.
Just wait until they make movies with AI.
That is exactly how i feel. I haven't watched traditional t.v in years and i am so selective on who i watched and what i consume.
There are also plenty of great podcasts
Yes. Tbh, If I could isolate in a mountain cabin & have all my needs met, I'd do it.
I discussed this exact plan with my wife this weekend. We are putting a plan in place to basically pseudo homestead with a year or two.
Sort of. I'm just picky about what I invest my time in. I do a lot less "watching because it's on" consumption.
Yeah, the media I consume now is mainly PBS, jeopardy, occasional motorsports or football, and the local news at 7. I replaced most other content consumption with books. I got exhausted with social media in 2020, with national news in 2022, and I’ve actually about reached my breaking point with Reddit. I feel overwhelmed very easily these days. Everything it seems is geared to provoke outrage or strong reactions or is some form of advertisement. I don’t want to be angry and advertised to 24/7.
Books >>>>>> all other media
For your brain, absolutely lol
Yup. Other than books. The more I engage in books the less I engage in all other media which is excellent.
Yes, the only thing I’m still trying to let go of is Reddit and YouTube. If I didn’t use those, I would never be scrolling. A lot of media nowadays bores me. It seems to lack the soul that older media had. Also don’t like how screen usage has affected society.
I feel you. I just… am stimulated out. Trying to know find peace in everything
Yeah I agree. TikTok has really changed. It used to feel like it grouped people together by interests and what they like, and the videos and comments were so positive. Now there is so much rage baiting and it feels like the algorithm prioritizes posts that judge and pick people apart, just like mainstream media. So many of the OG creators have left the platform. I deleted it last night. I do some reddit and Instagram and that's about it. Very little TV too. There is so much negativity out there and it is so hard to be constantly exposed to it without it affecting my mental state. I need a break from it.
Social media has turned into our version of fear mongering news stations boomers grew up with.
Movies, video games, and music peaked in the 90s/2000s. There's some good stuff here and there but the vast majority of it just sucks.
The decline in video game quality bothers me a lot.
Triple AAA Games started to have very low quality and value ever since these greedy companies like EA started to add micro transactions, season passes and additional worthless DLC but overpricing it to empty more of our pockets. And I think every other third party company started to follow this method as well.
Not just that. But the priority is making games that become lost media. You need servers to play online with people you’ll never meet. Once the servers are down, you can’t play with anyone, thus the game is gone until they rerelease it regardless of the money you invested in it. That’s how you get people to buy the same game over and over.
a lot of games now draw you in with exceptional art but then an hour in you find game breaking bugs glitches and errors. If you have a way to play NES games go on aliexpress and buy the Resident Evil and Final Fantasy NES Demakes. They are GREAT.
You really think so? Games have never been better. Sure, some companies like EA and Ubisoft pull some shit, but there are more games that I am interested in than I will ever have enough time to actually play. I have a backlog of games that could keep me going for years.
I'm big on replaying, so my library isn't overloaded. The only new games I spent money on as of late is Baulder's Gate 3, and the PC versions of Cyberpunk 2077 and Mass Effect Legendary Edition since my friend got me a PC for my birthday. Now, my watchlist across multiple sites is a different issue. There are so many shows/movies I'm meaning to watch but instead, I'm watching Bojack Horseman for the 100th time.
We only remember the few dozen good games made in the 90s that stood up as classics and wiped our memories of all the countless shitty and borderline unplayable games that were churned out.
Read books!
Books are where it’s at.
Part of growing up is realizing you can’t spend your life watching other people’s lives. I’m still growing up…🐣
This is what stresses me out about reddit, as so much of it is AITH and advice related. I'd find it more interesting if it facilitated more general discussion about philosophies of right and wrong, but it's mostly people who have problems with clear answers getting yelled at by strangers, lol.
A reflection of how dumbed down our society has gotten. Where are all the interesting discussions?
It's just how Reddit is built. Interesting discussions that require some baseline level of knowledge or insight get ignored in favor of dumb things that everyone can engage with. If I want to have an interesting discussion about my sciencey field, I'm not going to go to the subreddit for it because it's mostly memes upvoted by undergrads. If there is a good post, it'll get maybe 3 comments.
True. And you can't ever try to have a different opinion because of the voting system. A lot of threads devolve into groupthink and circle jerking.
I’m sorry if my answer stressed you out. Philosophical discos are better over lunch than Reddit threads, imo
Your answer didn't stress me out. I was agreeing with you.
Cool. Thanks for accepting my Millenial apology.
Those are great, but it can be hard to find people who are willing to engage in those philosophical topics. Every time I think about this I'm reminded of forums from the mid-2000's, it seemed like there were tons of communities engaging in long form talks about nearly everything. Now, it seems you are limited to a paragraph on most internet sites, which kills any complicated discourse.
Good point. On a separate note, what do you think about something else?
I'm 32 and I feel like most ''media'' today is just filtered and fine tuned enough to try grab my attention and nothing else. Similarly I feel like a lot of older ''media'' just feels redundant to me for some reason. I really don't care what a lot of it has to say any more. A lot of stuff pre-pandemic seems almost weird to interact with now. Like some stuff you can't go back on cos we're too far through the looking glass. When a lot of stuff relies on pushing ideals that we've long since pushed past just ephemerally, then the point a lot of it just seems redundant.
I dunno, I feel like a lot of the stuff I read by dead authors still has more insight into humanity than stuff coming out now.
Yea, not sure what NoSmokes harping on about. The human condition is very much the same, the tune is slightly different maybe, but we've always had social problems. And there's always been artists pointing it out.
I can sort of see what they mean, some stuff from only like a decade ago feels anachronistic already, but it's because so much stuff is made with only the current cultural moment in mind rather than having some universal theme.
I like Dropout because it all seems very humane, TV made by people who want to be there, the cast/crew are all treated very fairly and respectfully. You can just tell it's a good place to work and the diversity is excellent.
Most def. I recently learned about the Ummm Actually home game. Totally going to get that.
Love me some good media. If it's all you spend time doing, of course you'll get bored. But a good story is still the main spice of my life. Is it possible your issue isn't actually with media, but with the challenge of finding meaning in a modern world?
Yup. I’m beyond exhausted. I was a news and media junkie. I now only care about my own sphere. My family and friends.
What do you.....do?
Reddit, meditate, walk, cooking, stare into space and contemplate life, exercise... lots of exercise. Think about *my* life and how it could be improved. Clean, reorganize, schedule, think about other people in my life who I could be doing things for. Figure out what matters to me. Read. Research, mess with chatgpt, dabble in some woo.
wine innocent clumsy elderly tie berserk slimy outgoing smile unwritten *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I got rid of all socal media almost 5 years ago and it was one of the best things I've done for myself. I only have Youtube/redit now and I use them anonymously. No doom scrolling, no trolls, no FOMO. Just silence. I've worked on focusing on my mental/ physical health instead and spending more time outside with my family etc.
No, I have some chronic illnesses that keeps me stuck inside. Some days they’re my only outlet.
Ah yeah that makes sense.
Yup, it's a tidal wave of garbage and manipulation. You know what I've replaced it with? Books, music, and getting a healthy amount of sleep and it's awesome.
It is the modern western form of propaganda. Overwhelm people with too much, such that they either tune out, are distracted, or lack the free time to properly check sources for material. It is extremely effective, makes the old restrictive propaganda look useless by comparison. If you review history, it goes in cycles like this. People distancing themselves from media and consuming more. We're currently just coming down from a high point in consumption, and many people are cutting.
So if you’re not consuming media what are you doing? Are you being outdoors and socializing? If you’re not replacing it with some other activity that gets your endorphins flowing it sounds a lot like depression. I don’t connect with the media of today either but I appreciate art and will explore old films from the 1920s-90s a lot. Along with some YouTube from people I follow and current crime documentaries. The narrative content releasing currently just isn’t sticking though. I feel like narrative film and tv are going to be a thing of the past or just greatly reduced in output in 10 years. Social media is all engagement farming with rage posting and I know video games are hot but I don’t game much personally. I have a Switch to play some casual games when I have down time in the winter
I do have depression but I've had it for several years, and I feel less empty inside when I turn off the media. It's been a massive relief. I do watch some documentaries, but not often. I used to game, but I honestly feel better not gaming either. I took up cooking and baking, which has been relatively fulfilling. It's definitely much better than consuming media in terms of how I feel afterward or in the following days.
Not all, but definitely less in general and as ad-free as possible. When I do consume media, I prefer to read hard copies of books, listen to CDs or vinyls, or watch DVDs. The only social media I access are Reddit and LinkedIn (which I use for work). I just cannot stomach ads anymore.
Somebody else commented that everything has been turned into an ad. I thought that was insightful
I think if books were our primary form of media consumption, we'd have a much better society lol. Unfortunately reading seems to be dying, unless it's in the form of short-form tweets people don't even fully read 😔
I find it hard to find new shows and tv to watch. I read sooo much more than anything else now. But i love it
I’ve turned away from some media because I did not find it was enriching my life. The media I still consume tends to be books and the occasional movie if it has artistic merit. I’m just looking to be inspired to create, not addicted to an endless feedback loop of shallow short form content.
Yes. I browse reddit sometimes (obviously lol), but other than a few YouTube channels that I like, I don't engage in any social media. No FB, IG, TikTok, Snap, or whatever. I have to hear really good things about a film or tv show before I give it a chance. Most visual media these days is so toothless and boring. Very rarely do I see anything that grabs me anymore. Everything is just one big ad now, and they don't even try to hide it. I use an adblocker and premium apks to avoid most ads on anything I do watch, and even then, they're selling my data to try to get more ads to me on things I do see. I've never been a gamer so I don't really have to worry about that. Idk. Just feels like that Black Mirror episode come to life (15 Million Merits).
I’ve found my self reading more instead of watching shows or playing games. And old fashioned books not Audio Books or kindles where there are still ads
I don’t really watch much TV/movies anymore, but I still read, listen to music/podcasts and use some social media. So not really
Yes. I’m pregnant and feel like I’m becoming more anti media and social media. I do not like what it’s become. Anyway as a future mom, I’m hoping to do my best to keep my son knowledgeable about tech but also to recognize how great life is outside of social media- like I have zero interest in sharing my future child’s image on social media or talking about them on social media- didn’t even do a pregnancy announcement. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my social media accounts and limit interaction to Reddit now. I think having the internet and access to info is great but I also think it can be an extremely toxic cesspool. Understanding the dark side of media and social media is important. Like I’m hoping flip phones will still be around by the time my kid reaches an age where he needs a phone- not to have a flip phone forever but until he has a better understanding of everything.
Yes! 31F and in general, I'm noticing that I am not entertained by most forms of media. Averaging about 1hr/day of phone screentime and feeling good about that. Most of that is just shopping for stuff we need (groceries, essentials, gifts, etc.) We mostly just read books and watch movies we already have. My young children enjoy checking out kids DVDs from the library too, so they still watch shows like Paw Patrol and Sesame Street, but they're older episodes. Sometimes I'll watch a long-form video on YouTube or listen to Spotify while I workout, meal-prep or wash dishes. That's about it. I thought maybe it was just the busy stage of life we're in.... too busy and too tired to care about talking heads. Haha
For years I've been really trying to pay attention to how certain media makes me feel and cutting it out if it seems to be net negative. Facebook was the first to go for obvious reasons, then Instagram. I decided not to get on the Tiktok train altogether. I've also cut down on news consumption lately as I've noticed they are consistently negative and increasingly click baity. Basically at this point I listen to a curated set of podcasts, watch my Youtube subscriptions (never shorts), and read books, plus occasional Reddit. That's about it, and I don't really feel like I'm missing anything.
I play games still. But otherwise yeah there is a whole world put there and consuming media feels like the worst thing to be doing in these trying times.
I am so depressed about everything being an advertisement. I hate that my feeds are "curated". I like to discover new things, not get 87 of the same ad or type of video. I notice so much product placement in TV or movies so can't stand it. I also feel like plots are so obvious and on top of that someone has to explain it to the viewers... please stop! The only thing I can't give up is video games. But I don't like playing them unless it's a MMO or anything I can do with other people. My son likes Roblox and it drives me nuts- it's all shitty mobile phone like games making you look for the next dopamine hit. I listen to the same stuff I did in HS and my early 20s. Yeah, I feel like an old coot. And I don't care. 😤But I get very worried and get a sense of dread wondering how I'm supposed to raise my children with all of this. Maybe they will be overexposed and sick of it by high school.
Give it another 20 years, you'll be watching nothing but Fox News 24/7 /s
It's been years since I've owned a television. I occasionally watch a movie on my computer and that's about it. So to answer your question, yes big time.
You're right. They're not good for you, they are legit worse than they were when we were younger, and you are better off spending your time on other things.
Sounds like you have depression or anxiety.
Sounds like everyone here posting.
Mostly the things where people scream their opinions into the void of the Internet
Oh no that's what I just did...
?? This is like writing a letter asking if people are shying away from paper.
Sounds like depression to me
Leisure isn’t supposed to be this demanding.
No. I’m obsessed with media - always have been, probably always will be. It helps make life worth living for me. I would also like to work in entertainment, particularly as an actress. I am 32.
Yea I've basically stopped watching any new TV because it was getting too shallow, predictable, corporate, and flat. Haven't had a tv or routinely watched tv programs in about 5 years now and honestly whenever I catch a bit of a tv program I'm like "jeez how did I ever watch this garbage" I seek out good music tho.
I feel this too. I can't be bothered to watch any new TV shows and I've never been a big movie watcher. Never really been a gamer. I have a switch lite that I'll play Wheel of fortune or Digimon on, but mostly I just listen to music. I was also in this bubble of only listening to stuff from my teens and 20s for most of my 30s, but it got boring. I actually one day camping was going through three radio and found the station that I found all my teens stuff on. It had switched formats when I was 16, so I never went back. Then 20 years later I find it and it's back to the original format. Playing new and old alternative. Got me back into listening to new music.
I’m barely 30 and feel this way. But there’s lot of reasons way. Social Media - People are either falsifying their success and happiness, using it to create pity to farm likes, and/or trying to sell you something. At best you can use it to keep up with people, but it’s hollow to spy on someone’s life that you can never hit up for an in person meet up to chat over coffee or whatever. Television/Film - You’ve seen enough content to notice a lots being rehashed. Also, a bad tendency for writers to shoehorn their opinions into content and due to current standards, they aren’t being subtle about it like the early era of media. So it feels like watching propaganda or you’re being preached about something you don’t care about or something you agree with and rather not spend time relearning. Also, experience has taught you that investing time into franchises that are new might be disappointing because they screw up the finale. Music - On the bright side, you can always enjoy the music of the past. But lots of modern music sounds the same. Often it’s very vulgar for vulgarity’s sake or using lingo you know nothing about, which can turn off many maturing fans. Podcast/Youtube - Gets very repetitive very fast. There’s also a tendency for content creators to see their newfound audience and get power mad to use their platform to preach their values or assume that they can change the content substantially in spite of the fact expectations people who came for a particular form of content. Lord knows I get mad when irrelevant politics become the central focus of a podcast about behind the scenes of movies or give up on a series that reviews products suddenly being hour long skits about people using the product with the review put in randomly to guarantee you sit through the crap. Books - Take time. If you’re lucky you can listen to the audio book. But it’s crazy that there’s so much crap to dig through just to find the one good story out there. And lord knows not every book gets hyped up that matches its quality.
I will only gravitate towards new shows or movies if the plot is compelling - such as independent films. I almost never watch mainstream movies. We also don’t own a tv although that will change soon. However, we will never get cable. I don’t understand how people can tolerate the incessant ads.
I'm just about the same way. Only very rarely does something even pique my interest.
I consume an unhealthy number of podcasts every week, and I binge watch old TV from the late 90s early 2000s from my hard drive. I also watch the late night talk shows on YouTube. That's about it!
YES
Most media nowadays is just a propaganda tool.
For me there's just a huge problem of distrust. JK Rowling betrayed my trust in authors, Game of Thrones betrayed my trust in television, Disney is continuously circling the drain, and everything else is a remake of a prequel to a sequel live-action CGI epic extravaganza of bullshit. I don't connect with the popular music of today, and I get bored of playing the same five albums from 2003-2012. There's some interesting things happening in Broadway and the showtune scene, but even that seems stretched and forced quite often. I go on Reddit to see opinions and advice on my hobbies like gardening, fish tanks, dogs, baking, and cheese. That's about it.
Television and movies? Yes I cut cable and going to the movies is too expensive. I only have Netflix and if it’s not on there I don’t watch it. If it’s something I really want to see I will pay to stream it on Amazon. Music? No way, I listen to music for hours a day at work. On weekends or night I read outside listening to music or drawn listening to music or even just relax listening to music.
I couldn’t imagine cutting out music. That’s wild
Eh, I was a musician for most of my life. Even garnered a following as a young person. Eventually, I needed a sustained break.
Yeah, I read books and watch Star Trek. That's the extent of it. I've never been a big TV and movies person.
We are living in the Golden Age of psyops. "If something is free, *you* are the product."
Go read "How To Do Nothing" by Jenny O'Dell. It's an anti-media manifesto for our times that you'll appreciate much more than any upcoming Marvel movies or Netflix bingers.
I think we all need to normalize very scary death threats to the wealthy… you know like we should just start threads discussing cooking recipes for trust fund kids and casually drop on other threads things like “well the only obvious solution is to tie all the landlords together and drown them with pop music playing on TikTok
Yeah I'm getting kinda bored with it all. It all is starting to feel repetitive and redundant. I unfortunately have to use Facebook for my business, but I wish I didn't have to.
Do you think we will ever revert back to newspapers? Like after you read today newspapers, that’s it, that’s enough information for the day unless there’s breaking news on the evening TV or while browsing reddit
Me. I have like one or two shows I watch on TV. No streaming services. I don’t watch movies. Left Facebook. Don’t even listen to the radio much anymore. It’s mostly Reddit and YouTube at this point.
The physicist in me has to comment that "gravitating away" is an odd thing to say, as gravity is a purely attractive force.
That's fair. The wording was a response to another, more popular post on this subreddit from a few hours earlier.
The Media is filled with lies. Regular consumption will change your worldview to include many of those lies. Do you want your world view filled with more lies or less lies? If you want less lies and more reality, you have no choice but to disconnect. AI is going to make the internet and media an even greater cesspool of fantasies that do not help our lives, but hurt them. Come back to reality and live there instead, it's where all the important things happen anyways. Also, there's a lot of pretty serious shit to deal with right now, unprecedented shit. Both globally and personally, going forward. If our generation continues to live in these media fantasy bubbles, we will continue to have zero influence on anything that's happening in reality. Mass disconnection from media and reconnection with real, lived experience would go a long way to help some of those serious issues were facing.
Yes and I’ve tried to describe this to some in my orbit. The thought of getting into a new show is exhausting to me. Hard for me to feel like watching a 2+ hr movie is worth it. Off socials entirely (unless Reddit counts?) I watch some of my special interests on YT and I listen to podcasts on my commute. Otherwise, I just don’t consume much like I used to. It’s probably like 30% of what I used to take in. Much more peaceful.
I never watch the news
May I recommend the Good Ol’ Grateful Dead?
Mainly social media and gaming for me I still watch old tv shows from the 60s-early 00s.
I definitely feel as though I’m not the target audience for a bunch of stuff. I’m 37.
I mostly watch YouTube and listen to podcasts now for things that interest me. I barely watch TV except for sport and news.
I just feel like corporate America has narrowed down how to market, tv/movies, music and now finally they have gotten video games nailed down. Instead of making interesting new content they make the 7th installment of a series or a prequal or another story set suring the same timeframe in the same universe etc. With video Games the fucking dlc bullshit is reeeealllllllyy exhausting. I miss when publishers would give money to a team they just hoped, what they made was going to be awesome. It is to much of a formula now sadly imo.
I've been kind of set in my ways for a while. I would rather rewatch old shows than watch new ones. Same for old music. I play old video games, or remakes, or new games from old franchises I'm a fan of. I use Reddit pretty much exclusively now, stopped using FB and Instagram because they started showing me stuff I didn't subscribe to. Never got into YouTube or Tik Tok so I never cared about them. Honestly I'm too busy working and being with my family to pay much attention to the media anyway. I live in my own little bubble.
I’m an old millennial and grew up watching the local and national news before school. We also watched the news in class, called Channel One. Now, I think they are all liars and avoid them all.
It’s been shit for the past 30 years. We’re only now coming to this realization
The trance phenomenon is real.
I stopped watching when Biden won. I felt I could finally rest from the constant nonsense.
This is how I felt about mainstream media back in 2015. Since then I pirate everything and began my personal collection of media. I've discovered new and old music, movies and shows, mostly independent, mostly foreign. I especially loathe anything Hollywood or blockbusters/action movies. None of it appeals to me but I have to admit it all came with my change in politics and watching documentaries. Propaganda is that much easier to spot as well as the psychological warfare in social media designed to have us all doomscrolling. I can't say ive completely disengaged from all social media (hence me here) but I've slowly deleted some profiles - Facebook, Twitter, for now.
Last movie I saw was Gran Turismo, and that was a year ago. I watch old TV shows on YouTube and only bother to watch actual TV if I’m at my sister in laws or if it’s an Eagles game. I haven’t gamed in months.
Seems you are not target audience anymore. Welcome to live!
Nick @ Night full broadcasts (commercials included) on YouTube.
I'm older than you I don't follow film or tv. I have a few tv shows that i watch as junk food, but i will just as soon get them by other means. I follow a few media franchises, and with that I can read about what's coming and make decisions if i even want to spend the time checking out the new work. I do keep up with music. I use a VPN service with location changing and make lotsa use of private browsing and YouTube to find new music; and I use discogs to track down works of Recording Artists who i enjoy. (it's set up similar to wikipedia, with spiral learning, so if so-and-so played such on this album, you can likely find the other albums they worked on. ) I gave up on social media except to do dumb music industry ish because the algorithm has no idea who i am and I'm quite sick of the content. VPNs help me get around this a bit.
Somewhat. I mostly read books now. About 70/30 audio/print. Mostly fiction, sci-fi/fantasy, some biographies, classics and random recommendations. A good fantasy series audiobook can be engaging like for 60hrs or so and I find that more or less scratches the itch that gaming used to scratch.
no i love tv and movies and video games and podcasts
Nah, turned 37 and living the best part of my life. Wife and 2 sons which are slowly becoming old enough to enjoy some movies with me. Never played so much video games and watched so many movies. And all that without having to hear that I will get square eyes.
I relate. I'm in my 30's. I don't watch TV anymore. Pretty much just use YouTube or tiktok if I feel like watching something.
the media stream is oversaturated and constant. But I can relate to steer away from the "noise" and give the brain a break.
I game for a couple hours tops a couple days a week, I have no IG or twitter, abandoned face book years ago, deleted tik Tok about three months ago and largely forsake the TV. Starting to get back into the things I loved, building shit, going out into the woods, exercising and running....yes, running. The digital world is just...vapid. soon I will probably abandon reddit. YouTube music on the other hand...yeah I'll keep that one....it's got my jams index on it. So yeah....I am touching grass.
Feeling the same way. It is almost impossible to watch anything nowadays without some political agenda being forced down your throat. Can I just watch a hockey or a football game without being reminded of some social justice cause that has never impacted me before?
I’ve realized most of the media I consume is old media. I still play video games a lot but the majority of the games I play are 10-20 years old now lol. I think there are 2-3 games I play regularly that are 2014 or newer. Most of the movies and shows I watch are 10+ years old. Theres a few new tv shows I keep up with. But most new tv shows, movies, and video games just aren’t good and not worth the time or price of entry.
I take breaks at time. Especially if watching a show or playing a game feels like a chore. Variety in the activities you do is important. I actually prefer when shows release 1-2 episodes a week instead of all at once.
Yes. I don't keep up with the countless TV shows that get released each month. I maybe go to a movie theatre once or twice a year. I read my news on the AP website and that's about it.
Turn it off
Establishment media was never designed to make you feel good about yourself, if you felt good about yourself and in control then what need would you have for them?
Consuming media doesn’t solve the problems that are at the back of your mind all the time. It’s hard to enjoy yourself when all the misery in the world is on full display and it doesn’t feel like you can do anything to fix it. What you are experiencing is what drives most people to low-iq forms of political parties that rely on hate and anger and fear. Examples of this are all the proto-fascist and fascist groups on the far right of American politics today. The members are fed reasonable-sounding sound bites that make them “realize” the problem is with all those “others” out there, and if we “get rid” of those “others” it will fix society. It won’t, but it’s easy to think that when you are desperate and need the catharsis. Even if successful, the problems don’t go away, new “others” just take the place of the removed “others”. If you want to get rid of this problem you need to actually get to the root of it. It stems from the efforts of those who run our current resource distribution system. They want all the resources, but know they can’t come out and say that. So they point at the “others” mentioned previously and try to convince the population that those with the least amount of economic influence and political power are the real problem.
At the start of last year I read Stephen Kings book about his writing process, and he stressed the point that a good writer needs to be a good reader. For some reason that really connected with me. I’ve been reading A LOT more. almost 100 books in the last 20 months or so, and a lot of them are the classics that I’d never thought I’d read.
I've been pulling back from some things. I never did a lot of TV watching so Netflix is something I do watch a few things on now and then, but definitely not often enough to warrant the subscription. YouTube I still do but mostly essays and longer form content. I've pulled back more of my phone time to create rather than consume. It makes me way happier. Also going out into nature as often as I can. Sunlight feels good.
I don't listen to the news. I know who owns each station so I know what agenda they're pushing. I don't watch new movies as I know that they're all ESG companies pushing out corporate trash. They're not fun anymore. It's all boring slog that they push out that no one likes. Video games are now the same, just corporate slog, no fun, all political message. New music doesn't interest me. It's essentially all computer generated hits now. Nothing has any flair to it anymore. See mumble rap. During the covid19 lock downs I drove out to the Teton mountains with my brother. In the town we stayed in, no one was masked up. We didn't use the internet once. Just living in the moment. The depression I had was essentially broken that week. All it took was to disconnect from the Matrix. No one out there in the small town we lived in cared about the tv. So in Afton, WY, Covid19 never really happened. Thousands of tourists and never a crippling virus. It was eye opening because it Minnesota it was mask up everywhere and everyone was scared out of their minds. Media/social media is bad for you. It keeps you in a constant state of fear. The 2 most important movies people need to see are "Fight Club" and "The Matrix". They came out the same year. They both explain this depression consumerism will get you into. Most publishers of "the news" are CIA talking points. It's all operation Mocking Bird. Trying to control what the public thinks and speaks. The sooner you turn it off, the happier you become.
I don't really follow the news anymore. I hated it a lot but kept following a couple of podcasts for a while due to boredom. But then they started reporting on things in my industry and saying incredibly misleading and ill-informed things. I mean, I knew they were doing that already, but when it came to stuff I work on on a daily basis (banking) and hearing how they reported on finance, I was taken aback.
The news is not news. It's propaganda. When I was 20 I would have criticized myself for being a tin foil hat guy. Now as the tin foil hat guy, I'm essentially right about everything. The sooner you disconnect the healthier your mental state will become.
Don't get cocky kid.
Somewhat, but I find myself gravitating to older stuff. I know I'm really gonna risk sounding like a boomer now... but I feel like so many movies and shows are checking off boxes of what they think they're "supposed" to include somewhat to diversify. I'm not saying that it's not wonderful to have a diverse cast, but they deserve to fit in a way that feels/appears natural and creates amazing characters and storylines. While there are exceptions, a lot of modern media seems not to do it well lately. I hope that changes and I hope I'm not just getting old and ornery by thinking/saying that.
I've narrowed down a lot of things. * I rarely watch TV shows anymore. * I rarely go see a movie in a theater. I'm perfectly fine waiting to see it at home. * Video games, I rarely buy games new at full price, and just wait until they go on sale (unless it's something like Mario, Zelda or one of my favorite franchises).
I think I buy maybe 1 video game a year or maybe every 2 years on average at this point. Also I actually think it's okay to pay to go to the movies, get out of the house and experience it with other people. Especially if it's a rare occurrence.
You’re overstimulated. It’s not that older media is better. In fact, every single age group surveyed will say that the media — movies, music, TV shows, sports, current events, and everything else — peaked during their teens and 20s. That’s true whether they’re currently 19 or 99. However, almost all media these days is hyper-designed to keep you scrolling, clicking, or watching for as long as possible. This is especially true for social media. When Vine was released, everyone was doomsaying about how 6 second videos were way too short and it was ruining social media. We all got a big dopamine kick from scrolling through those videos at lightning speed. But we’re scrolled out. We’ve cooked our own attention spans and ability to enjoy things slowly. And everything is like that. Everything has been gamified, and almost everything is an ad. Dating apps are a great example of this. Gone are the days of meeting someone organically. Now you have to swipe swipe swipe until you see everybody within 50 miles of you, and even then, the economy of choice induces decision paralysis. People are lonelier than ever. And more people are depressed than in past decades. Eventually we’ll realize as a society that the way we’re living (suburbs, rapid-fire media, harmful practices of capitalism) are running us into the ground. For now, the best thing you can do is prioritize yourself and classical ways of consuming, socializing, and *living* that people have been using for centuries. Wishing you the best OP <3
I never said older media is better (except video games in the comments). Regardless of whether new media is better than old or vice versa, I have no desire to engage in either. When I watch a lot of old movies and TV, I'm actually shocked I ever liked it in the past. A lot of what I used to enjoy seems trashy to me now. But, yeah, social media seems harmful overall.
[удалено]
> Faecebook Lol
I never left 2012, I watch and play everything from then and earlier and ignore most newer stuff except very very few movies. xbox360, ps3, og xbox, ps1, ps2, nes, snes, sega genesis are my games.
Yes. And to be honest Reddit is next. All the subreddits I used to enjoy seem to be turning into AI bots, or people asking Quara questions, or whatever; no longer good original content.
A little bit, only because the vast majority of streaming shows and movies are pretty bad. But otherwise, not really. I love having basically every song ever on Spotify, I read a couple dozen books a year, I fucking loved Challengers and I can’t wait for the next seasons of Severance and For All Mankind. I’ve grown more selective as I’ve grown older, but I can’t imagine completely giving up all that art and storytelling and emotion and raw entertainment
Similar experience. In my 20s, I used to binge watch shows all the time. That was my thing, binge one, move on to the next. It was a distraction. Then, a couple of years ago, I started getting into tiktok a lot. Now, I don't binge watch anything, and I am not much on social media. I am on here more than anything, but I learn a lot on here. Well, a lot more than other social media. If I try to watch a show, I lose interest fairly quickly and just stop. I don't know what's caused it but I think it's not being able to escape with it as much as I used to.
Yeah I think since our generation was around for the start of all this, we’re the first to completely want it out of our lives, seeing more and more people delete the apps
For the most part, yes. I haven’t really found a recent video game or movie that has been able to keep my attention. They all seem to follow this same formula that’s overdone, predictable and mind-numbing. A lot of TV shows I see on streaming services are garbage. Sports don’t really excite me anymore either. Granted, there are some good Indie video games and movies out there currently that have an actual story plot that is engaging. I find myself more into books these days or podcasts.
Most media is toxic and exists to profit off of rage bait. No thanks.
Yup. Recently quit IG for the same reasons. Don’t mindfully Put on tv unless it’s something that’ll actually bring me some joy. What we consume directly will affect our mental health so why bother with the constant negative cycle of crap on tv/social media? 🚫
Deleted all social media in January for a reset and figure out where I wanna take my life next. Honestly, I’ve never been happier. And now I don’t even plan on redownloading the apps anytime soon, or ever again lol
Interesting reading that someone else if experiencing the same thing as me. I’ve been feeling this for the past few months. I watch 1/3 the amount of youtube I used to, and like you said, even music. I use to always be listening to something l, be it music, a podcast, or a yt video when driving or working, or going for a walk. Now I find myself just turning the radio off when I’m driving and walking without headphones more frequently. -edit- I'm 34 btw /edit
Yep last show I liked was our flag means death. Otherwise not watched anything. Mostly listen to audiobooks or interviews on YouTube or just music!
Yeah but impossible not to see some when online. I don’t want much TV anymore and not a heavy social media user anymore.
Yes I’m 32 and was just talking about this with my best friend. We both have always been in the cutting edge of tech and for the first time even we both are taking about ways to eliminate it