Children and everyone else … I can’t watch a movie anymore without either reading something or playing chess at the same time just to up the frequency of those hits.
Im of the opinion that the quality of content is hot garbage on a good day and actual entertainment is rare now.
I recently watched Willem Dafoe in "Inside" and while it's not really a cinematic experience that could be called pleasant, I was actually satisfied at the end of it because it actually felt creative.
A friend of mine gets pissed off when I fall asleep in front of half the movies, he asks me to watch, but the reality is that those movies are bargain bin low quality comedies (or worse, documentaries) and its better use of my time to sleep than bother with it. It's actually one of my sleeping strategies, to empty my brain of thoughts, so...
I don't think there is a major problem with attention, neither in children or adults; it's just that it's a lot harder to sort through what is worth your attention and after some willpower is spent to choose something it doesn't get overthrown because of the psychology of commitment. But it is not worth paying attention, so people use whatever is around them to not completely waste time.
In my opinion inattentive children in classrooms has a lot more to do with teachers being bad and lack of physical activities than a problem with the kids. But teachers are politically untouchable nowadays and you can't ask them to actually be competitive or get fired. The pay is also progressive and equal regardless of actual performance, so you get terrible people who cannot keep kids' attention because they suck; but then we blame the kids. Sure.
Some shows are just super slow or full of unnecessary stuff and they try to sell those portions as "art"
I have a similar observation regarding Movies. Funny how this can be improved by watching a movie in cinema, a purpose of cinema which silently grows while the original purpose of "better audio/video experience" is fading...
I'm saying this genuinely, not to make a snide point or anything. There are some really good movies out there that aren't just "the same beats over and over again." If, say, you're only watching big studio blockbusters, try branching out into smaller dramas, that kind of thing.
"Beat for beat" might be a bit unfair but even then there are traditional structures such as "The Hero's Journey" that are commonly used by writer's both in and out of Hollywood.
That said, even if structure and a finite number of plots is true, there is still a wide variety of artistic potential from characterization to setting to art style.
I will say, however, that the older I get the more "familiar" things feel. Even when I'm watching non-blockbuster stuff. I'm pretty sure this is just the result of having watched more movies throughout my life. My standards are getting higher and my pattern recognition toolset is widening. And since I have dabbled in writing myself, I tend to recognize formulas when they are being applied ... even if the movie is not a cookie-cutter Hollywood factory-produced summer blockbuster.
Hardcore Henry
Frenetic, insane, indulgent, madness. Loved it. Can stand most blockbusters, can't stand most dramas.
A lot of rough edges can be forgiven for just a little bit of mad creativity.
When I had an addiction to social media, I could not enjoy 'slow' things. I also felt anxiety and depression. After detoxing I am again able to enjoy the 'slow' things, like taking time to learn and resisting instant gratification hits.
Watching a movie sometimes requires 'getting into it' before you can really appreciate it.
Most of our jobs are repetitive tasks. Even something like being a race car driver is repetitive and 'boring'. In order to be fast you have to practice the same track layout hundreds of times to find the optimal racing line and braking points. Without boring there is no glory.
I'd suggest most of our progress was actually made by grinding through boring tasks. Many (most?) lazy people do not drive much progress.
But I wouldn't dismiss an entire form of complex expression because of an inability or unwillingness to engage with it at its level.
A movie is the visuals, the acting, the sound, the camera movements/editing, etc and how it all comes together to essentially give you a 2d slice of a person's realized thoughts.
- watching a move is screen time
- movies aren’t as captivating anymore