"Finding new content is hard: I possess an irrational belief that I need to be watching 'the best thing possible,' which usually leads to aimless scrolling through streaming catalogs in search of my new favorite show. "
I have a solution: just watch whatever is saved in your watchlist. If you saved it, it's because you want to watch it. The only decision really needing to be made is are you in the mood for a movie, or a specific genre (like holiday-themed, since we're in that season), or would you rather watch a show. Ever minute you spend scrolling is time that could be spent watching.
It was years ago when I estimated that my Netflix queue, just Netflix, would take two years of continuous watching to clear out. And I very little that isn't highly rated and of interest to me. You aren't going to pick the "best" thing to watch, because there's hundreds of roughly comparable candidates, and human beings are terrible at making such choices. More information in situations like these often leads to a sub-optimal choice, like when you spend too much time looking at a menu and order something that disappoints instead of getting what you know you like and that brought you into the restaurant in the first place.
The reality is that we're blessed with a large amount of quality stuff out there, but we have very little time for our attention. There's no reason wasting time scrolling through a queue - after all, you already picked it.
The question about how this affects parenting resonates with me a lot. I have an 11 year old and have been thinking through the same kinds of questions.
One thing I have done that I think has worked well has been to provide curated suggestions on what to watch (what I think is good and high quality), but to leave decision up to child on what they actually watch.
I do have a rule against multiple screens at once (like TV + handheld video game), and I don’t think this is just bias from being older. I have seen various research studies that suggest that regular attention splitting like this degrades ability to focus and concentrate deeply on a single thing. I too try and minimize tv + phone even though that’s increasingly common.
For similar reasons, I aggressively limit exposure to short form video content. Only supervised and limited time, so it is more of a social/bonding activity. Also plenty of studies that too much of this is bad for brain development.
Incredible analysis! And I had no clue about television's emotional regulatory powers. In my environment, it seems the opposite : younger ones pay attention to selected TV series while seniors keep celebrity talk shows in the background while they play duolinguo or mahjong on the sofa together. Seems that TV has evolved to be a thing one gathers around as long as it's on, regardless of what's being broadcasted or steamed.
Does anyone have data of the lenght of a YouTube video in relation to its views? I'm amazed at how many views a 4 or 5 hour video tends to get. People will avoid movies that near the 3 hour mark, but millions are watching (or maybe listening to) 4 hour videos on obscure lost media or a creepypasta from 10 years ago.
I love that you started the mindless TV chart at 1800 (complimentary)
"Finding new content is hard: I possess an irrational belief that I need to be watching 'the best thing possible,' which usually leads to aimless scrolling through streaming catalogs in search of my new favorite show. "
I have a solution: just watch whatever is saved in your watchlist. If you saved it, it's because you want to watch it. The only decision really needing to be made is are you in the mood for a movie, or a specific genre (like holiday-themed, since we're in that season), or would you rather watch a show. Ever minute you spend scrolling is time that could be spent watching.
It was years ago when I estimated that my Netflix queue, just Netflix, would take two years of continuous watching to clear out. And I very little that isn't highly rated and of interest to me. You aren't going to pick the "best" thing to watch, because there's hundreds of roughly comparable candidates, and human beings are terrible at making such choices. More information in situations like these often leads to a sub-optimal choice, like when you spend too much time looking at a menu and order something that disappoints instead of getting what you know you like and that brought you into the restaurant in the first place.
The reality is that we're blessed with a large amount of quality stuff out there, but we have very little time for our attention. There's no reason wasting time scrolling through a queue - after all, you already picked it.
The question about how this affects parenting resonates with me a lot. I have an 11 year old and have been thinking through the same kinds of questions.
One thing I have done that I think has worked well has been to provide curated suggestions on what to watch (what I think is good and high quality), but to leave decision up to child on what they actually watch.
I do have a rule against multiple screens at once (like TV + handheld video game), and I don’t think this is just bias from being older. I have seen various research studies that suggest that regular attention splitting like this degrades ability to focus and concentrate deeply on a single thing. I too try and minimize tv + phone even though that’s increasingly common.
For similar reasons, I aggressively limit exposure to short form video content. Only supervised and limited time, so it is more of a social/bonding activity. Also plenty of studies that too much of this is bad for brain development.
Incredible analysis! And I had no clue about television's emotional regulatory powers. In my environment, it seems the opposite : younger ones pay attention to selected TV series while seniors keep celebrity talk shows in the background while they play duolinguo or mahjong on the sofa together. Seems that TV has evolved to be a thing one gathers around as long as it's on, regardless of what's being broadcasted or steamed.
Does anyone have data of the lenght of a YouTube video in relation to its views? I'm amazed at how many views a 4 or 5 hour video tends to get. People will avoid movies that near the 3 hour mark, but millions are watching (or maybe listening to) 4 hour videos on obscure lost media or a creepypasta from 10 years ago.