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30 years, teens spent about as much time watching TV. Is the problem that people enjoy passive entertainment? Young as well as old? Is the problem the source

30 years, teens spent about as much time watching TV. Is the problem that people enjoy passive entertainment? Young as well as old? Is the problem the source of the predigested pap that makes up the entertainment? It was all fine when it was only 4 sources and no interactivity?

lm28469 3y ago
Watching cartoons/tv shows vs watching 6 hours of 5 seconds content on tiktok/instagram isn't really comparable. It's like saying alcohol and heroin are the same because "drug"
- jncfhnb 3y ago
  Oh please, they’re not even comparable?
  - lm28469 3y ago
    hm yes ? When I was a kid I had 5 tv channels and that's it. Nothing interesting to watch ? Well get out or find a comic book. Today: unlimited stream of shit coming from an unlimited number of sources, everything is 2-10s long which destroy your attention span. People competing to trigger your primal needs, everything slowly evolve into softcore porn, the rest is disguised advertising. Look at what's trending on tiktok and ig, it's scary
    - jncfhnb 3y ago
      I had 100+ channels. Do you think my experience was fundamentally different?
      - lm28469 3y ago
        Yes, 100%. I went to my grandparents very often for the sole reason that they had 50+ channels to binge watch animes. There was always something available if you looked for it, complete different experience from my parent's place
        jncfhnb 3y ago
        And would you be in an awful place if you spent more time watching anime than reading comic books?
    - InternetUser 3y ago
      I'll take your advice and watch 6 hours of TikTok every day for the next 12 months and then confirm to you whether or not you're right about it being scary. Thanks for the suggestion! Looking forward to what I learn.
ImPleadThe5th 3y ago
Is social media really passive though? For some its quite active, responding to DMs, religiously checking post metrics, feeling pressure to post right this moment instead of just existing, comparing your posts to your peers or favorite influence. Its also much sticker, constant notifications, algorithms built around keeping your eyes glued to an app, dopamine rewards for engaging with content. I don't deny that less time is likely being spent on TV than older generations and I also don't pretend that TV didn't manipulate people into watching more ads, spending money, etc. But I think there is a huge generational miscalculation about the dangers of Social media vs older slower media.
Retric 3y ago
Social media is its own thing with its own trade offs. Among other things mass media like TV promote a shared cultural identity. You can argue that shared cultural identity is a good or bad thing, but it’s a different thing than you get from social media. On the flip side TV isn’t going to improve your typing skills.
Podgajski 3y ago
The assumption you are making is that TV is not bad at all. Is social media like TV, but worse? I think that is the question. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198586/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198586/ "Cultivation theory proposes that those who spend more time “living” in the virtual world of television may perceive the “real world” as per the imagery, principles, and portrayals depicted on the small screen. People who spend a lot of time watching television are likely to assume a television worldview of mental illness." And https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32713607/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32713607/ "TV time is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. Future guidelines could suggest limiting TV time to less than 2 hours per day to reduce most of the associated adverse health events."
- h2odragon 3y ago
  The assumption "TV is not bad at all" has been made, by not by me. I'm trying to point out that the entire question is a repeat of a false frame propaganda sermon that has been repeated time and time again.
steego 3y ago
Seeing how the platforms accounting for the bulk of time are YouTube and TikTok, which are predominantly passive forms of consumption (compared to social media platforms that promote higher levels of engagement), I think comparing it to TV consumption is pretty apt. The problem with these types of articles is they are simply fixtures that print media companies publish every year, recycle the same decades-old talking points, and add very little insight. I am truly amazed to watch my generation (GenX) read these articles and react to it like it is new or newsworthy. The least we could do is elevate the conversation or begin to ask questions like: Are video games better than passive entertainment? How can we best engage and challenge young minds with technology so we can equip them with the mental faculties to thrive into adulthood? How do we help them disengage and quiet their minds so they can focus or meditate?
- InternetUser 3y ago
  You're one of those video game defenders, extolling the interactivity as though it's so sophisticated and intellectually edifying. Video games are mental garbage. I remember kids telling me in elementary school that Nintendo and Sega were really good for improving hand-eye coordination, and now it's seriously being called "esports."
safety1st 3y ago
This claim is false. Adolescent TV watching peaked at around 2.5 hours in the 1970s. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000203.pdf https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000203.pd... The overall amount of time adolescents spend on passive screen entertainment has increased dramatically in our lifetimes, especially in the last decade. It has come at the expense of books and reading (as well as other things). There is lots of data out there.
lr4444lr 3y ago
It television viewing correlated with a rise in teen mental illness, I'd say the two would be comparable.
- h2odragon 3y ago
  The first generation to watch a lot of TV went on to exhibit many (then) unique social and individual pathological problems. There were similarities to previous waves: Radio, Novels, and Newspapers all had people decrying the destruction of humanity and civilization because of the dangerous new trends. Bonus points for every wave's denouncers having to ignore all the details like "what are they reading" in order to tar an entire economic sector with the same brush. Seems to be a requirement for the form. Is playing a puzzle game with a group the same "social media" as mindlessly staring at a tiktok stream for the same time period? Was reading a daily newspaper for the stock prices the same as "being informed" of the 1860's equivalents of Bat Boy and Aliens Ate My Husband?
  - kayodelycaon 3y ago
    Don't forget how destructive written language was. Kids didn't build critical memory skills because they could write it down. Clearly the world went to hell after the invention of the alphabet.

lm28469 3y ago

Watching cartoons/tv shows vs watching 6 hours of 5 seconds content on tiktok/instagram isn't really comparable. It's like saying alcohol and heroin are the same because "drug"

jncfhnb 3y ago
Oh please, they’re not even comparable?
- lm28469 3y ago
  hm yes ? When I was a kid I had 5 tv channels and that's it. Nothing interesting to watch ? Well get out or find a comic book. Today: unlimited stream of shit coming from an unlimited number of sources, everything is 2-10s long which destroy your attention span. People competing to trigger your primal needs, everything slowly evolve into softcore porn, the rest is disguised advertising. Look at what's trending on tiktok and ig, it's scary
  - jncfhnb 3y ago
    I had 100+ channels. Do you think my experience was fundamentally different?
    - lm28469 3y ago
      Yes, 100%. I went to my grandparents very often for the sole reason that they had 50+ channels to binge watch animes. There was always something available if you looked for it, complete different experience from my parent's place
      - jncfhnb 3y ago
        And would you be in an awful place if you spent more time watching anime than reading comic books?
  - InternetUser 3y ago
    I'll take your advice and watch 6 hours of TikTok every day for the next 12 months and then confirm to you whether or not you're right about it being scary. Thanks for the suggestion! Looking forward to what I learn.

ImPleadThe5th 3y ago

Is social media really passive though? For some its quite active, responding to DMs, religiously checking post metrics, feeling pressure to post right this moment instead of just existing, comparing your posts to your peers or favorite influence. Its also much sticker, constant notifications, algorithms built around keeping your eyes glued to an app, dopamine rewards for engaging with content. I don't deny that less time is likely being spent on TV than older generations and I also don't pretend that TV didn't manipulate people into watching more ads, spending money, etc. But I think there is a huge generational miscalculation about the dangers of Social media vs older slower media.

Retric 3y ago

Social media is its own thing with its own trade offs. Among other things mass media like TV promote a shared cultural identity. You can argue that shared cultural identity is a good or bad thing, but it’s a different thing than you get from social media. On the flip side TV isn’t going to improve your typing skills.

Podgajski 3y ago

The assumption you are making is that TV is not bad at all. Is social media like TV, but worse? I think that is the question. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198586/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6198586/ "Cultivation theory proposes that those who spend more time “living” in the virtual world of television may perceive the “real world” as per the imagery, principles, and portrayals depicted on the small screen. People who spend a lot of time watching television are likely to assume a television worldview of mental illness." And https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32713607/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32713607/ "TV time is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes. Future guidelines could suggest limiting TV time to less than 2 hours per day to reduce most of the associated adverse health events."

h2odragon 3y ago
The assumption "TV is not bad at all" has been made, by not by me. I'm trying to point out that the entire question is a repeat of a false frame propaganda sermon that has been repeated time and time again.

steego 3y ago

Seeing how the platforms accounting for the bulk of time are YouTube and TikTok, which are predominantly passive forms of consumption (compared to social media platforms that promote higher levels of engagement), I think comparing it to TV consumption is pretty apt. The problem with these types of articles is they are simply fixtures that print media companies publish every year, recycle the same decades-old talking points, and add very little insight. I am truly amazed to watch my generation (GenX) read these articles and react to it like it is new or newsworthy. The least we could do is elevate the conversation or begin to ask questions like: Are video games better than passive entertainment? How can we best engage and challenge young minds with technology so we can equip them with the mental faculties to thrive into adulthood? How do we help them disengage and quiet their minds so they can focus or meditate?

InternetUser 3y ago
You're one of those video game defenders, extolling the interactivity as though it's so sophisticated and intellectually edifying. Video games are mental garbage. I remember kids telling me in elementary school that Nintendo and Sega were really good for improving hand-eye coordination, and now it's seriously being called "esports."

safety1st 3y ago

This claim is false. Adolescent TV watching peaked at around 2.5 hours in the 1970s. https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000203.pdf https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/ppm-ppm0000203.pd... The overall amount of time adolescents spend on passive screen entertainment has increased dramatically in our lifetimes, especially in the last decade. It has come at the expense of books and reading (as well as other things). There is lots of data out there.

lr4444lr 3y ago

It television viewing correlated with a rise in teen mental illness, I'd say the two would be comparable.

h2odragon 3y ago
The first generation to watch a lot of TV went on to exhibit many (then) unique social and individual pathological problems. There were similarities to previous waves: Radio, Novels, and Newspapers all had people decrying the destruction of humanity and civilization because of the dangerous new trends. Bonus points for every wave's denouncers having to ignore all the details like "what are they reading" in order to tar an entire economic sector with the same brush. Seems to be a requirement for the form. Is playing a puzzle game with a group the same "social media" as mindlessly staring at a tiktok stream for the same time period? Was reading a daily newspaper for the stock prices the same as "being informed" of the 1860's equivalents of Bat Boy and Aliens Ate My Husband?
- kayodelycaon 3y ago
  Don't forget how destructive written language was. Kids didn't build critical memory skills because they could write it down. Clearly the world went to hell after the invention of the alphabet.