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I’d Rather Watch Instagram Than A Movie

19 points by srikar 15y ago

simondlr 15y ago
I watch movies much less these days due to this. I wonder whether this is good or bad. These days I am way more conscious of my information diet. I don't want to sit around waiting for my next piece of information dopamine.
moocow01 15y ago
Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud but I'm not particularly inspired to follow the current direction and trends of consumer entertainment myself. Before I lean into my rant I'll say social networks serve a purpose - I do use them. But in terms of entertainment, I really don't think social networks such as FB, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram are really all that redeeming, entertaining or engaging on any personal level. What do I get out of them? - small hits of dopamine that don't impact me on anything more than an artificial level. So after 2 hours on Facebook, what have I come away with - honestly usually nothing. I'm not going to argue that all movies are better - Hollywood can put out some real bullcrap at times but I think there is a much greater opportunity with movies as a medium to create an engaging story that can educate, move and inspire. A social network feed has never made me laugh to the point of tears, cry to the point of tears or made me think about things completely differently. What makes me sad is that I've realized the general US audience is not so much like me - people will trend towards cheap things that require short attention spans which I think will result in an overall lowering of the number of high quality stories told through films and novels. Sucks for me I suppose.
- arturnt 15y ago
  I agree with you wholeheartedly. When I read Fahrenheit 451 a while back I was bothered by it since it really describes the trends in present day society. There the war was on television, and how over time it has been reduced to pointless factoids without depth or context. Sounds familiar?
- gizzlon 15y ago
  Agreed.. how is Instagram suppose to replace "The Lives of Others", "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars"? Movies (and books etc.) can tell so many different stories. Social networks can, at best, tell the stories of people very much like yourself.
mhd 15y ago
To think that just a few years ago, groans could be heard for miles if some relative/friend invited you for a "fun evening" involving a slide projector… Yes, sure, you can do it on your own time and skip the less interesting parts (and, well, probably more cat pictures now), but it probably has even less of a narrative. To me, this makes it even more passive, some kind of disjoint idling stream-of-consciousness obsession with killing time…
ankitb 15y ago
This fast-food/drive-through like consumption of information as entertainment is not a step in the right direction for many reasons. 1. Movies are like a time taken out of life for entertainment. Instagram, facebook are bite size distractions that can be frustrating/counter-productive because they don't entertain when they're distracting you from your work (which is most of the time). 2. Facebook/Instagram etc. psuedo-socializing tools are a step back for social animals like human beings. They'll promote loneliness in a crowd when misused/overused. This is in contrast with a night out with friends watching movies. 3. I forgot the link of an article which was a very succinct account of how people use social networks these days. Highlighting only the good parts of their lives, creating a whole new dynamics for "Keeping up with the Joneses". Lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Movies are a unique form of entertainment with no parallels in Social networks or gaming industries.
bnastic 15y ago
This written by the same person who did the infamous piece on "dull companies" recently? Why is she still allowed to write when, again, the ignorance (arrogance?) prevails?
inflatablenerd 15y ago
I think what's going on here is how instagram and social media in general appeals to a shorter span, in the same way that many people will happily knock back four 45 minute Breaking Bad episodes, but the thought of sitting down and getting emotionally attached to a whole new group of characters, for a whole 100 minutes? It just seems like a huge investment of time.
bambax 15y ago
This is a horrible and depressing post for an old guy like me... but fortunately the great video of Louis CK provides the necessary contrarian view. (The presence of this video makes one wonder if it was all in fact tongue-in-cheek?)
- acqq 15y ago
  I had the same thoughts as you, "is it for real?" as I've read this part: "nd, why even bother spending two hours of your time sitting and absorbing a complex narrative that isn’t connected to you, when you can pop open your iPhone and get a quick hit of rarefied entertainment from people you actually know — who you can actually relate to as opposed to just project on." "absorbing a complex narrative"? Of a Hollywood film? Yes, that's "demanding."

19 points by srikar 15y ago

I watch movies much less these days due to this. I wonder whether this is good or bad. These days I am way more conscious of my information diet. I don't want to sit around waiting for my next piece of information dopamine.

moocow01 15y ago

Maybe I'm just a stick in the mud but I'm not particularly inspired to follow the current direction and trends of consumer entertainment myself. Before I lean into my rant I'll say social networks serve a purpose - I do use them. But in terms of entertainment, I really don't think social networks such as FB, Twitter, Pinterest or Instagram are really all that redeeming, entertaining or engaging on any personal level. What do I get out of them? - small hits of dopamine that don't impact me on anything more than an artificial level. So after 2 hours on Facebook, what have I come away with - honestly usually nothing. I'm not going to argue that all movies are better - Hollywood can put out some real bullcrap at times but I think there is a much greater opportunity with movies as a medium to create an engaging story that can educate, move and inspire. A social network feed has never made me laugh to the point of tears, cry to the point of tears or made me think about things completely differently. What makes me sad is that I've realized the general US audience is not so much like me - people will trend towards cheap things that require short attention spans which I think will result in an overall lowering of the number of high quality stories told through films and novels. Sucks for me I suppose.

arturnt 15y ago
I agree with you wholeheartedly. When I read Fahrenheit 451 a while back I was bothered by it since it really describes the trends in present day society. There the war was on television, and how over time it has been reduced to pointless factoids without depth or context. Sounds familiar?
gizzlon 15y ago
Agreed.. how is Instagram suppose to replace "The Lives of Others", "Lord of the Rings" and "Star Wars"? Movies (and books etc.) can tell so many different stories. Social networks can, at best, tell the stories of people very much like yourself.

mhd 15y ago

To think that just a few years ago, groans could be heard for miles if some relative/friend invited you for a "fun evening" involving a slide projector… Yes, sure, you can do it on your own time and skip the less interesting parts (and, well, probably more cat pictures now), but it probably has even less of a narrative. To me, this makes it even more passive, some kind of disjoint idling stream-of-consciousness obsession with killing time…

ankitb 15y ago

This fast-food/drive-through like consumption of information as entertainment is not a step in the right direction for many reasons. 1. Movies are like a time taken out of life for entertainment. Instagram, facebook are bite size distractions that can be frustrating/counter-productive because they don't entertain when they're distracting you from your work (which is most of the time). 2. Facebook/Instagram etc. psuedo-socializing tools are a step back for social animals like human beings. They'll promote loneliness in a crowd when misused/overused. This is in contrast with a night out with friends watching movies. 3. I forgot the link of an article which was a very succinct account of how people use social networks these days. Highlighting only the good parts of their lives, creating a whole new dynamics for "Keeping up with the Joneses". Lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Movies are a unique form of entertainment with no parallels in Social networks or gaming industries.

bnastic 15y ago

This written by the same person who did the infamous piece on "dull companies" recently? Why is she still allowed to write when, again, the ignorance (arrogance?) prevails?

inflatablenerd 15y ago

I think what's going on here is how instagram and social media in general appeals to a shorter span, in the same way that many people will happily knock back four 45 minute Breaking Bad episodes, but the thought of sitting down and getting emotionally attached to a whole new group of characters, for a whole 100 minutes? It just seems like a huge investment of time.

bambax 15y ago

This is a horrible and depressing post for an old guy like me... but fortunately the great video of Louis CK provides the necessary contrarian view. (The presence of this video makes one wonder if it was all in fact tongue-in-cheek?)

acqq 15y ago
I had the same thoughts as you, "is it for real?" as I've read this part: "nd, why even bother spending two hours of your time sitting and absorbing a complex narrative that isn’t connected to you, when you can pop open your iPhone and get a quick hit of rarefied entertainment from people you actually know — who you can actually relate to as opposed to just project on." "absorbing a complex narrative"? Of a Hollywood film? Yes, that's "demanding."