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DiscussionThe pressure to "catch up" on shows and the joylessness of contemporary media consumption.
Posted December 18, 2023 by RobotGoat in Television

This is more about media in general, so it includes movies, videogames, etc.

One thing that's been greatly bothering me lately is the way that people, specially younger folks, treat media consumption like a chore that needs to be done with as fast as possible, and how it is absolutely necessary to be "caught up" on ongoing media pieces.

We know that FOMO is manufactured on purpose to increase consumption - and I blame a lot of it on Netflix -, but it's the way that people are dealing with it that's been baffling me, which is making "watching guides" that recommend skipping any episode or chapter of a show that does not directly move the main plot. More and more, I've been seeing people talking about how everything that's not explicitly pushing the main plot thread forward is "filler". I've seen someone saying that episodes focused on character development are filler and can be skipped, or recommending that people catch up on shows through text recaps, or even watching whole shows at 2x speed.

All in all, it seems like entertainment is not necessarily the priority anymore when picking something to watch. Enjoying the show itself is not as important as having watched it and therefore having the ability to discuss it and preventing yourself from being "spoiled". And that leads to not only a very joyless, utilitarian way to engage with media, but also to a lowering of the quality of the discussion surrounding these pieces of media, as the people who are engaging in discussion have not seen the whole series nor do they care to.

Compounded on that, there's the widespread dominance of short form video in social media, which leads to people engaging with a series, movie or game through small clips, not necessarily in order or context. I've seen a trend of people preferring to watch "best moments" compilations rather than watching a long series. They don't feel like they're missing out on context on anything else. I've seen people directly saying that reading the Wikipedia page of a movie is the same thing as watching the movie because you "know what happens".

What's up with that? Do any of you feel this pressure to "catch up" on media and participate on discussions? Do spoilers upset you? I'd love to hear your opinions on this subject.

82 comments

ThelnebriatiDecember 18, 2023

It's dumbing down storytelling, and a direct consequence of consumerism.

RobotGoat [OP]December 18, 2023

It really is. It encourages creators to make shows that are essentially a string of cliffhangers held together by hot glue and duct tape.

NastasyaFillipovnaDecember 19, 2023

Because major studios, like Disney are not making movies, they are making a "product", approved by a board of directors and designed to be liked by as many demographics as possible

KaboodleDecember 19, 2023(Edited December 19, 2023)

It’s an all-you-can-eat buffet, but the only food item under the hot lamps and sneeze guard is devilled eggs. It’s technically food, in the same way that TV is technically art, but indulge too much and you’re gonna get bored, or sick, or both.

evermoreDecember 19, 2023

I think another reason though is people have less time and our brains are so used to instant dopamine hits now compared to how they once were. I know it’s definitely made my ADHD worse. I struggle to even shower without something in the background these days.

But anyway my point was so many people are stretched so thin at all times right now that having tons of time to dedicate to watching something long, in full, isn’t always an easy thing to do. And not everyone is psychotic like me and watches on 1.5x speed

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

As for spoilers, I actually don't mind them, unless I watch a murder mystery. I mean in a murder mystery the whole fun is to figure out who is the bad guy. As for the other genres, I don't watch them because of twists and turns, I enjoy character development and relationships. And you can't spoil that. I mean even if you say - in the next episode the main character is going to dump her abusive partner, I still want to see how she reaches the descion and derive pleasure from that. To enjoy a show, I don't need to be surprised. I need to connect with the characters.

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023

I agree with that. Knowing what's gonna happen doesn't tell the whole story, you also need to see how and why it happens.

OxyToxinDecember 19, 2023

I would probably feel more pressure to catch up if modern media was suited to my tastes. Lately I rewatch old stuff because new stuff feels like a constant castigation session for not having the appropriate beliefs. I've complained to my 70yo father that I'm only in my 30s and I should have had more time before I thought everything was crap. lol

People that are spoiled about spoilers upset me. I don't understand why anyone would go on a discussion board about media, where current discussions about said media are happening, to complain about 'getting spoiled'... One of the dumbest examples I saw was a discussion about the It franchise. The novel was published in 1986, followed by the miniseries in 1990, then the films in 2017 and 2019. 2023 rolls around and we still have dumbasses complaining about spoilers in discussion forums devoted to discussing the whole franchise. Quit wasting time on "discussion" if experiencing the media fresh-eyed is so important. Otherwise, quit complaining and admit that you just want to participate in discussing while feeling self-righteous about a grievance. There are legitimate complaints about spoilers from promotion companies that intentionally cut trailers badly or insiders that leak material. Someone showing up late to the party doesn't get to complain that all the good food is gone.

wildclovrDecember 19, 2023

I think TV watching is supposed to be fun. Now, people are taking it all seriously, as a very serious sort of chore and duty to do, as something one SHOULD do. I find that odd. To me, it's a bit of a vice. TV can be just harmless entertainment, turn your brain off for a little bit, nothing wrong with that as long as it is not too much.

To me personally? If it seems like a chore, or seems "hard to watch", or you "need to get through it", then . . . . . I have lots and lots of other chores I need to be doing, ones that are actually useful, LOL

But that's just me. I'm kind of old school I guess.

OneryBoxDecember 19, 2023

Ugg, yes. "You HAVE to watch this show, but the first season isn't very good, but it picks up second season!" You want me to watch a whole season of a show I'm not going to like? No thank you. I just... Won't watch it.

pennygadgetDecember 19, 2023

I think part of it is the fact that there's too much shit to watch. Its overwhelming. Especially if you're busy and don't have lots of free time to binge shows.

And I get skipping filler if we're talking about a show like One Piece that has 10,000 episodes. But for a relatively short show? That's weird. Sometimes the filler has the best character building moments

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023

I'd say that if it has good character building moments it's not really filler. It's just a character driven episode.

pennygadgetDecember 19, 2023

The Sailor Moon reboot took out the filler to make the show more manga accurate. And it made the new show way more boring than the one from the 90s. The friendships and romances feel like they move way too fast when you don't have filler content giving the characters a chance to develop and breathe between the major plot points

fightlikeagirlDecember 18, 2023

Agreed, there's definitely pressure to keep up with popular media. I finally cancelled Disney+ last month when I realized I never enjoyed opening the app because almost every series felt like an obligation watch. I'd rather pick and choose content that interests me, not something I have to watch as fast as possible to avoid spoilers on social media.

NastasyaFillipovnaDecember 19, 2023

disney has gone soo down the hill in the last few years. They are just creating "product" for us to consume

jadegreenDecember 18, 2023

Episode guides / lists of episodes you can skip have existed since I was a kid in the 90s. Shows actually used to be a lot more lenient on not seeing every episode, so that doesn't really feel like a "kids these days" sort of thing. And recap episodes used to be officially produced and aired every so often - it was always such a bummer when you thought you might be getting a new episode that week but ig with streaming archives that's just done by fans now

RobotGoat [OP]December 18, 2023

I remember that existing for anime, but that was because anime actually *had *filler episodes that only existed because the show had caught up with the manga and they had to stall a little bit. Shows with episodes that were self-contained stories and could be watched out of order were also more common. Nowadays sequential stories with a clear progression are more in vogue. Just compare 80s/90s Star Trek with contemporary Star Trek.

questioningtwDecember 19, 2023

I honestly don't even really like watching TV much anymore. I hate how streaming services just show a deluge of shows and I feel like everything is just too much. I also really hate how short seasons are now...I liked how older shows actually had like 22 episodes per season! Lately I have been rewatching Babylon 5. Now THAT was a good show!

vulvapeopleDecember 19, 2023

Speaking of the deluge of shows, I also hate that I no longer can find an alphabetical list of everything they have. Don’t you dare go looking for something the algorithm doesn’t have in store for you.

questioningtwDecember 20, 2023

I hate that too! I don't want software telling me what to watch. I don't mean to sound condescending, but it really bothers me just how ok we are with AI and shit doing everything for us. It creeps me out!

ALoudMeowDecember 19, 2023

I was just going to mention long seasons and B5, in Valen’s Name! 😀. And André Braugher’s death just prompted us to buy the entire Homicide: Life on the Street series.

questioningtwDecember 20, 2023

B5 and Star Trek Deep Space Nine were my favorite sci fi shows! It is really sad how a lot of the cast is now dead:(

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023(Edited December 19, 2023)

I don't feel pressure to catch up, but I do feel sad that I have basically nobody to discuss what I watch.

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023

I feel the same.

And when you do get caught up, you end up discussing with people who only watched a clip compilation or read recaps but will gleefuly share their asspull character takes for the whole world to see.

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

Oh when you do get caught up, you are too late for the party and everyone is discussing something else.

But mainly I just watch less popular shows, hence have nobody to discuss them

[Deleted]December 19, 2023

I want to add a rider to this: do the answers here reflect age differences? I am curious how people who grew up on broadcast TV vs those who grew up on surfing (and games and social media) consume media differently. I grew up on shows like Maud and The Love Boat; still have never played a video game in my life (am I the only one left?) and never even look at TikTok. I think that impacts how I watch tv now. I have no interest in catching up on fad TV. I lived through Twin Peaks, I'm good. lol.

Honestly, I find myself rewatching shows I love that first aired on broadcast TV (just rewatched Moonlighting! Boy was that a blast from the past). I find these shows to be better written that the stuff pumped out of streaming platforms, for the most part. Even when these are good, they are always canceled too soon (e.g., Teenage Bounty Hunters). I fear I am not going to find another new show I love again; I have fear I have already lost out--that all the best tv is behind me. sad face.

[Deleted]December 19, 2023(Edited December 19, 2023)

I’m mid 40’s. Similar to you mostly. I did play sega genesis games and the original Nintendo. Nothing after though. I don’t do tiktok and I actually dislike video as a medium to get information. I prefer reading, it’s faster and I find it easier to focus on ideas when they’re words versus a video.

I find myself very concerned when I see people (sometimes not even young people) staring at tiktok and the way they can’t even listen to a person long enough to have a coherent conversation. The constant whipping out of the phone is getting really bad.

I don’t understand watching people unboxing shit or shopping hauls on YouTube. And watching people play video games? Are we really this bored? I know a lot of it is generational because I have kids. 🤓

I find it strange that younger people seem to admit media of all sorts is messing with their mental health and their attention spans, but unlike older people they also seem unwilling to explore quitting those behaviors or replacing them with healthier things?

I’m constantly reading actual books because I know I’m fighting a war with my attention span. Smart phones have ravaged my brain and I’m a Luddite compared to most people.

Someone posted in here that they can’t even shower without having some kind of media playing. Thats just wild to me.

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

Unboxing videos and also reaction videos is something I don't get either

[Deleted]December 19, 2023

I am nearly 60 and agree with all of this! 100% except--get this, I am still walking and talking and have never owned, nor will ever own, a smartphone! I think that pretty much doxxes me to anyone who knows me since I may be the last of my kind: the luddite dodo. It is appalling watching people on their phones. Every time I am on the bus or the street, I do a count of how many are on their phones. So, so many. I was sitting behind someone scrolling through tiktok and swear I got vertigo.

I do not understand how they refuse to give up their screen time! It is all so vapid. I wanted to pose a question on ovarit but thought better of it, but does anyone still identify as or want to be an intellectual? Bc that does not seem to happen anymore. When I grew up, actors like Jodi Foster and Brooke Shields went to Yale and Harvard and got MAs in French Literature. Now do the Kardashians or Ariana Grande even get an education? Did they just buy a high school diploma? Books by "influencers' become best sellers but these people have no credentials or education. No wonder higher ed is a shitshow these days. Which leads to my next point...

Books! Books are amazing (but heavy when moving!) I have walls lined with books by smart people we were all supposed to be familiar with--philosophers, great novelists, artists. Now? I never see anyone reading a book, or if so, not one of substance, not one that is challenging. The crazy thing is they all think the internet provided them with all this knowledge but its simply not true. They have no cultural or historical literacy. My husband and I talk about this all the time. I really have no way to speak to anyone under 30 bc most have no knowledge of any of my references. It's sad, really.

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

I was once critisised by an old man for using my smartphone on the bus. I was chatting to my friend, but he went on how stupid young people are. I mean I get where you are coming from, but like I'd rather use the opportunity of bus commute to chat with my friend that to mindlessly stare out of the window. And even if I had been watching Tik Tok, so what? This man had no right to critisise me, because he doesn't know what I do, when I am not on the bus.

[Deleted]December 19, 2023

agreed about no right to say anything to you. That is dumb; like spearing at windmills at this point. The staring out the window part I think we could all use a little more. Just quiet time w/o added stimulation; mental meditation. And, it is good for women to be alert to their surroundings rather than distracted. Just in case.

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

But when else is to chat with friends then? There's work, household chores, hobbies) it's hard to find suitable for everyone time to meet IRL, so I am happy I can at least chat with my friends online

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023

That's a good question. I am myself in my mid 30s, so I did grow up with broadcast TV and 16-bit videogames, but I've also grew up along the advent of streaming.

[Deleted]December 19, 2023

Yeah, I think age really skews FOMO. I know my friends my age don't feel compelled to watch Succession and have little interest in the drug-addled teens of Euphoria. I think it's the difference of being a gourmet vs a gourmand. I feel the same way about film. I would be curious if the dividing line is about 45. I just don't feel like anything compares to shows like Northern Exposure, The X-Files, the original Twin Peaks (anyone remember 30 Something?). Certainly no comedy has surpassed the platinum era of Community or Happy Endings, except for maybe Difficult People. Don't get me wrong, I love serialization, but now its done for its own sake bc it is made to be streamed. There was a different pacing to broadcast tv that I am not sure those raised on streaming can adjust to--they might find it boring, esp the much older programs. Maybe that is why shows like SVU and Suits are so popular, they are throwbacks to the days of stand alone episodes that offered some closure at the end of each ep and had little serialized narrative.

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023(Edited December 19, 2023)

I am 32. Grew up without a computer. Most of my classmates got their first computer in high school. But I come from a poor family so only bought a laptop when I was at uni.

I don't agree that old shows were better. Surely you have to filter through lots of crap, but not all good shows get cancelled. I think it's much easier to find a show with great female leads now than in the past.

Love Teenage Bounty Hunters, btw)

[Deleted]December 19, 2023

True about that (Glow! League of Their Own! DCs Legends of Tomorrow!). I stand corrected, but check out Northern Exposure if you can find it. Very feminist. Still, a lot of female shows are for/about very young women (Grace and Frankie is a good exception). Nonetheless, the body types are slowly changing too, which I am grateful for (Crazy Ex-gf, but that was broadcast, as was Downward Dog and Dietland--both canceled way before their time).

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

I'll definitely check Northern Exposure. The main character is a man, but I love Alaska:)

[Deleted]December 19, 2023

I don't think its streaming anywhere. The town is named after a lesbian in the show! One of the earliest (if not the earliest) representations of lesbian love ever on TV. It won awards for it.

RegularFeministDecember 19, 2023

Wow, sounds cool!

istaraDecember 18, 2023

I tend to watch more older shows than current ones.

The two massively hyped shows that people absolutely raved about in recent years - Schitt's Creek and White Lotus - were just "good". I didn't find them great or particularly unique or original or special.

They had good casts (Jennifer Coolidge is always a treat) but I honestly didn't get the hype.

So that just adds to the massive-and-growing pinch of salt I'm taking with all recommendations these days.

vulvapeopleDecember 19, 2023

I found myself pressured to read a lot of books, which is even worse since, if I’m focused on quantity over quality, I’m unlikely to enjoy the book or remember much from it, which then defeats the whole purpose. I’m thinking of drawing back my Goodreads goal to 30 books a year, which will force me to read more than I would if left up to my own devices, but not to the point that I’m speed reading or unconsciously avoiding long and complicated books.

I don’t feel as much pressure with TV or movies for a number of reasons. One is that a lot of current-day entertainment is tedious trash. Another is that I don’t care about spoilers. Lately, I’ve been seeking out old movies and TV (I recently binge-watched Designing Women), which takes me totally out of the running in keeping up with everyone else.

BellaBlueDecember 18, 2023(Edited December 18, 2023)

My favorite TV series, Call the Midwife, has jumped its shark in season 12, and no longer do I have any desire to see the annual Christmas special 😮‍💨

The Call the Midwife subreddit already spoiled the season 12 finale for me, news has leaked about actors leaving, and the whole vibe of the series is off

The pandemic messed with filming during season 11 and it's distracting. I watched one episode of season 12 and dropped it entirely. The characters are out of character, and real life politics started infiltrating the series.

Spoilers, if you care. The series is set in the dockyards of the East End of London. In real life the docks were closed permanently when the dockworkers went on strike for better working conditions. The people who owned the docks decided it was better economic sense to shut the docks down and start new docks elsewhere rather than investing in the current docks. The closing of the docks meant all the dockworkers who lived there for generations were out of work, and would have to leave if they wanted to continue working on the docks. This marked the end of Cockney culture.

The show decided the dock workers went on strike because they hate immigrants, so closing the docks is a moral good rather than employing racists.

wildclovrDecember 19, 2023

Holy crap, that's craaaazy! Really, that actress who left the show at the same time as her character left in the source material made the right choice . . .. . . things don't stay the same. To last 12 years, the show would need to be about something different.

I didn't even realize that show was still on . . . . . . .

BellaBlueDecember 19, 2023

It was supposed to end after season 12, so several actors found different work. Then it got renewed to season 15 😮‍💨

IshahchaiDecember 19, 2023

Something I think about a lot is how, when I was a child, The Wizard of Oz was aired on network TV exactly once a year and it was a Big Fucking Deal. The anticipation of something rare made it a special event. (See also: When the Summer and Winter Olympics were both in the same year. Having an Olympics every other year dilutes the experience of watching.)

My daughter chose to skip the intro to Hogwarts Legacy, and in doing so, missed out on one of my favorite moments. As soon as the dragon kills George, the thestrals pulling the carriage become visible to the student and the player, as they’ve just witnessed a death. It was just a quick thing, and not addressed in the dialogue, but so well done. But it also explained the whole plot of the game.

I don’t watch a lot of television though. When we have time, the husband and I will watch two episodes of something streaming, but I’m only half following along because I’m also knitting.

UnicornDecember 19, 2023

I don't feel pressure to catch up. I just watch shows when I feel like it. I appreciate shows that are released on a schedule instead of all at once, so at least I could kind of keep up if they're new, but it doesn't really make much of a difference to me. Unless the show is SO GOOD I feel an intense urge to watch it as it comes out and follow discussions (Westworld season 1 was probably the last show that did this for me). IRL, TV shows are so widespread now that there's not much central "spoilery water-cooler talk," and online, if I see a show title and worry about spoilers I just scroll through to avoid them.

For the most part, I just go find discussions for the episode I finish once I finish it. I search "show name s1e3 discussion reddit" for example and I'll usually find some good stuff. Most TV show subreddits are good about making sure there aren't future episodes spoilers in their episode discussion posts.

I do care about spoilers. Especially if the show is mysterious or has an engaging story. I try to avoid them as much as possible. Sometimes if I really am into a show and don't want spoilers, I won't even read discussion posts until I finish it all, and I also ask my partner to Google questions about the show for me. 😆

Spoiler rant story for Westworld: WW season 1 was amazing. The subreddit was overall very good about spoilers and making sure people don't spoil any episode stuff in the main discussions and also in episode discussions. Sometimes people love to quote lines from the show, like, the most famous was "It doesn't look like anything to me," which is fine, that line is introduced in the first episode and it doesn't really "spoil" anything imo. HOWEVER, for SOME REASON, mods and people did not consider the quote "What door?" to be a spoiler which was STUPID because it totally spoiled the tension of the scene when the character said that line and destroyed the entire mystery of that why the character would say that line. >:(

MizunaDecember 19, 2023

I get why people do this with video games. Maybe you care about the story, but not enough to dump 60+ hours into actual game play that you don't like for whatever reason.

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023

But then you don't get to claim you experienced the game. You should be honest about the fact that you just watched a streamer play it.

spinningintellectDecember 19, 2023

Maybe it's not about claiming anything. Maybe they just want to know the story.

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023

Yes, but the issue that I'm pointing out is that people act like those things are equivalent. The people who read a recap or watch a clip compilation also say they "just want to know the story". Games are a ludonarrative experience, you don't get the same effect from watching it that you get from playing it.

It's no issue if you just want to know the story because you're not interested in the game mechanics, as long as you don't act like you played it. And I'm saying that because I see way too many people having hot takes about games they haven't played and have no interest in ever playing.

MizunaDecember 19, 2023

It's an interesting debate. Who has more "experience" with a game—the person who actually played the game and quit before the first boss (surprisingly common if global Steam achievements are an accurate measure), or the person who spent double digit hours watching gameplay footage on Youtube?

All I have to add is the following personal anecdote. I recently tried learning how to play an older, but complicated video game. A family member, who has never played this game at all ever and doesn't even like playing that genre, but has watched a surprising amount of Youtube footage of the game, saw me struggling and started chiming in with tips and genuinely helped me out a bit. Now who has more "experience" in this scenario? Noob me actually playing the game or the Youtube watcher who knew the game better than I did? I'm not asking this in an antagonizing way. Just adding as food for thought.

RobotGoat [OP]December 19, 2023(Edited December 19, 2023)

I don't mean experience in this sense. I mean't having actually experiencing a piece of media in the way it was designed to be experienced. The difference between games and other forms of entertainment like a book of film is that the player is an active agent in the the construction of the experience. Even on a game that has a linear narrative, your choices in gameplay will lead to an experience that is unique to you. With games being particulary immersive due to this interactivity between the player and the media, seeing an emotional scene or solving a difficult puzzle in a game that you've played just hits different than seeing someone else doing it.

A personal example, I play Final Fantasy XIV. It's a MMORPG, and what I like to do in it is the most difficult raid encounters, called Ultimate Raids. My team and I see videos of these encounters to prepare, we see guides, we know everything that's going to happen. And even then, it takes us months to actually clear them. Because it takes us months, because it's a social experience, because we are there having to engage parts of our brain that we wouldn't if we were watching a video, everything else feels different. The music swelling on a boss phase transition, the thrill of barely dodging an attack, the panic of seeing a team mate get killed, you only understand it as it was meant to if you are there. If you saw a video, you know what's gonna happen, but you have not experienced it.

Or, for a more narrative-based example. Karlach's speech at the end of her questline in Baldur's Gate 3 is a very emotional moment and a great piece of acting. But you can't deny that it hits much harder when you, personally, were there for 60+ hours fighting by her side and making gameplay choices rather than watching someone else doing it. The level of immersion and emotional investment is not comparable.