6 ms·

I think this is actually a pretty real concern. I've noticed my appreciation for specific instances of all sorts of media has tanked with wide availability. I

I think this is actually a pretty real concern. I've noticed my appreciation for specific instances of all sorts of media has tanked with wide availability. I actually used to buy a lot of media so I hit this problem before streaming. As soon as I had a backlog big enough with each type of media that it wasn't straightforward to burn through it, it became a cloud of equally possible stuff with the result I wasn't particularly invested in any of it. Most people were smarter than me re: dumping money into bits on a disc, but now that streaming and/or free-feed libraries have hit most media types, I think the experience is becoming more common. I think it's a different version of Paradox of Choice: all individualization between the various choices is lost when there's too many. With PoC, the problem is that then you have nothing left by which you can prioritize. In this case, the issue is the loss of all joy you'd have found in the differences. What's helped a little for me is going on "kicks," like finding all the bands I liked that did EDM-metal hybrid, or all the found footage movies I liked, etc. Constraining the pool you're selecting from first makes it easier, and having a mission of some kind makes it easier still.

neves 4y ago
Remember that we have unlimited access to super-hero and algorithmically scripted movies. I had more options in my VHS rental stores than in current streaming offerings. It is very hard to find classic movies of non anglo-american directors. I had access to these movies in my third world big city rental store.
- neves 4y ago
  I also have a wall of independent CDs that never got to the streaming services.
sharkweek 4y ago
Child of the 90s here and my parents wouldn’t get cable TV. This meant my access to movies was basically whatever was on broadcast TV that night or if I was really lucky whatever was available at our local video rental store. I remember not always loving whatever movie we chose (or whatever was on TV) but I watched it because it’s what I had. Now, like many others, I stare at the home screen of a few different services each night, start and stop a few different things, then give up.
- boredtofears 4y ago
  Personally I think that has more to do with what movie offerings there are today vs 20 years ago. I could absolutely care less about the latest comic book movie but that seems to be where movie studios have put all their effort. On the other hand, TV series have never been better - we seem to be in some kind of golden age where you can find tons of high quality well acted series on every streaming service. There was a bit of a lull (for me) during Covid, but my backlog is completely full through the next year.
  - Syonyk 4y ago
    The consolidation of movie studios (mostly into Disney lately...) hasn't been helping either. There used to be plenty of small studios that would do "weird" stuff - it wasn't going to be a huge commercial success, but it would probably make back the modest budget it had. There's always older films to watch. I'm at a point where I'd far rather put the time into something older, with solid actors, than watch the latest and greatest mostly-CG special effects laden [whatever]. That most of those movies are unwatchable unless you're "deep into the fandom" doesn't encourage me to invest in them either. And if it's not those, it's the "How can we prequel all the popular things," even when it makes no sense at all. To yell at a cloud briefly, Han Solo doesn't need a prequel. He's a standard drifter archetype, and to nail his past down doesn't do the character any service at all.
    - mmmpop 4y ago
      > He's a standard drifter archetype, and to nail his past down doesn't do the character any service at all. old man makes great point
    - boredtofears 4y ago
      > greatest mostly-CG special effects laden [whatever] There was some threshold that was crossed probably close to a decade ago for me where CG effects stopped being interesting in any way, but watching older movies with their incredible special effects and stuntmen really does look impressive to me. There is no CG in the world that compares to the immersion in Apocalypse Now, for example. I do think there are many ways to use CG to subtly support the impact of a scene driven by characters, but when the scene itself is driven by the CG (in ways that are unrealistic for actors or stuntmen to perform) it just feels like a lazy way to progress a storyline.
actionablefiber 4y ago
This is such a large problem that it's a cultural meme that nobody can decide what to watch on Netflix, or what music to listen to on Spotify, or what game to play from their Steam library. There's just too much of everything. There are too many musicians, movies, and games that friends, family, and the recommendation algorithms all swear I absolutely must experience before I can call my life complete.
- grvdrm 4y ago
  Another take: too many posts on HN about languages, algorithms, start-ups, fund-raising, etc, etc. I'm here because I like to read through lots of that stuff! But it has also made admire it all, maybe a little too much. As I'm in the late stage process of potentially joining a start-up, I am doing so much what-if and what-about-that analysis and it is completely paralyzing my decision process! But it reminded me that I was once a 20-year-old sophomore in college that created a business plan with a friend for a start-up without once wondering what else might be out there. Times have changed.
  - msie 4y ago
    Life was better when you could only choose either C, Basic or Pascal.
t_akosuke 4y ago
I clearly remember feeling this fatigue already 20 years ago when piracy became super easy and i went from the teenage paradigm of buying one album, say, a month, and learning the ins and outs of it for that month, to having more in my hard drive than i could chew on. I remember thinking oh back in the day it was easier to love music! I have since learned to stop being nostalgic about the scarcity and instead trying to be more, um, mindful of my consumption. Genre rabbit holes are great. Live music is too. I avoid the recommender algorithms as much as i can instead going for albums or curated compilations - much prefer YouTube to Spotify for this. When people let the algorithm play, I can clearly hear the lack of intentionality and it bothers me immensely.

neves 4y ago

Remember that we have unlimited access to super-hero and algorithmically scripted movies. I had more options in my VHS rental stores than in current streaming offerings. It is very hard to find classic movies of non anglo-american directors. I had access to these movies in my third world big city rental store.

neves 4y ago
I also have a wall of independent CDs that never got to the streaming services.

sharkweek 4y ago

Child of the 90s here and my parents wouldn’t get cable TV. This meant my access to movies was basically whatever was on broadcast TV that night or if I was really lucky whatever was available at our local video rental store. I remember not always loving whatever movie we chose (or whatever was on TV) but I watched it because it’s what I had. Now, like many others, I stare at the home screen of a few different services each night, start and stop a few different things, then give up.

boredtofears 4y ago
Personally I think that has more to do with what movie offerings there are today vs 20 years ago. I could absolutely care less about the latest comic book movie but that seems to be where movie studios have put all their effort. On the other hand, TV series have never been better - we seem to be in some kind of golden age where you can find tons of high quality well acted series on every streaming service. There was a bit of a lull (for me) during Covid, but my backlog is completely full through the next year.
- Syonyk 4y ago
  The consolidation of movie studios (mostly into Disney lately...) hasn't been helping either. There used to be plenty of small studios that would do "weird" stuff - it wasn't going to be a huge commercial success, but it would probably make back the modest budget it had. There's always older films to watch. I'm at a point where I'd far rather put the time into something older, with solid actors, than watch the latest and greatest mostly-CG special effects laden [whatever]. That most of those movies are unwatchable unless you're "deep into the fandom" doesn't encourage me to invest in them either. And if it's not those, it's the "How can we prequel all the popular things," even when it makes no sense at all. To yell at a cloud briefly, Han Solo doesn't need a prequel. He's a standard drifter archetype, and to nail his past down doesn't do the character any service at all.
  - mmmpop 4y ago
    > He's a standard drifter archetype, and to nail his past down doesn't do the character any service at all. old man makes great point
  - boredtofears 4y ago
    > greatest mostly-CG special effects laden [whatever] There was some threshold that was crossed probably close to a decade ago for me where CG effects stopped being interesting in any way, but watching older movies with their incredible special effects and stuntmen really does look impressive to me. There is no CG in the world that compares to the immersion in Apocalypse Now, for example. I do think there are many ways to use CG to subtly support the impact of a scene driven by characters, but when the scene itself is driven by the CG (in ways that are unrealistic for actors or stuntmen to perform) it just feels like a lazy way to progress a storyline.

actionablefiber 4y ago

This is such a large problem that it's a cultural meme that nobody can decide what to watch on Netflix, or what music to listen to on Spotify, or what game to play from their Steam library. There's just too much of everything. There are too many musicians, movies, and games that friends, family, and the recommendation algorithms all swear I absolutely must experience before I can call my life complete.

grvdrm 4y ago
Another take: too many posts on HN about languages, algorithms, start-ups, fund-raising, etc, etc. I'm here because I like to read through lots of that stuff! But it has also made admire it all, maybe a little too much. As I'm in the late stage process of potentially joining a start-up, I am doing so much what-if and what-about-that analysis and it is completely paralyzing my decision process! But it reminded me that I was once a 20-year-old sophomore in college that created a business plan with a friend for a start-up without once wondering what else might be out there. Times have changed.
- msie 4y ago
  Life was better when you could only choose either C, Basic or Pascal.

t_akosuke 4y ago

I clearly remember feeling this fatigue already 20 years ago when piracy became super easy and i went from the teenage paradigm of buying one album, say, a month, and learning the ins and outs of it for that month, to having more in my hard drive than i could chew on. I remember thinking oh back in the day it was easier to love music! I have since learned to stop being nostalgic about the scarcity and instead trying to be more, um, mindful of my consumption. Genre rabbit holes are great. Live music is too. I avoid the recommender algorithms as much as i can instead going for albums or curated compilations - much prefer YouTube to Spotify for this. When people let the algorithm play, I can clearly hear the lack of intentionality and it bothers me immensely.