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It’s fascinating to track which cultures will be absolutely annihilated by the introduction of endless entertainment in a rectangle. (Annihilated in the demogra

It’s fascinating to track which cultures will be absolutely annihilated by the introduction of endless entertainment in a rectangle. (Annihilated in the demographic sense).

infotainment 1y ago
All of them?
- vitro 1y ago
  Some maybe less.. [0] [0] https://washingtonmorning.com/2025/06/19/how-differently-tiktok-algorithm-displays-content-in-the-us-and-china/ https://washingtonmorning.com/2025/06/19/how-differently-tik...
  - alephnerd 1y ago
    TikTok/Douyin isn't alone in impacting a mindset (though it does play a role). I see plenty of parents (even amongst Chinese families) handing a smartphone to their kids to essentially sedate them instead of engaging with them. Honor of Kings, Arena of Valor, and MLBB have similar dopamine rush cycles. Heck, even a bland, aggravating, obnoxious, and stick-up-their-butt social media site like HN can induce similar cycles.
ericmay 1y ago
Isn’t it basically all of them? I mean is there a culture as you say, which I interpret to mean a civilization or country, where iPhones* are affordable and isn’t facing this issue?
- alephnerd 1y ago
  I've seen similar issues in villages in developing countries like India and Vietnam as well. Parenting is hard, and smartphones reduce the amount of effort it takes anyone to get a dopamine rush, disincentivizing creativity. Smartphones are extremely powerful, but I strongly feel they shouldn't be in the hands of children at least until their adolescence - that way some amount of creativity is forced. Ironically, Steve Jobs was himself a major proponent of how boredom begets curiosity and creativity.
- mensetmanusman 1y ago
  The US has many sub cultures, it’s too early to tell which survive since smartphones are so new…
  - alephnerd 1y ago
    They've been around for almost 20 years now, and 2.5 generations (later millenials, Z, Alpha) have all spent formative years using smartphones. The subcultures have already formed, died out, and formed into new subcultures multiple times already.
FirmwareBurner 1y ago
Entertainment is an effect, not the main cause. It's not the fault of availability of McDonalds that a person chooses to destroy their health eating only burgers, fries and Coke. Healthy options still exist, just that some people choose not to use them. So why do people choose endless entertainment instead of the "healthy options"?
- justjico 1y ago
  Well, isn’t this just the old paradox of free will. You are free to do whatever you desire. But you are not free to choose your desires.
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    >But you are not free to choose your desires. Couldn't be more false.
  - em-bee 1y ago
    hard disagree. this belief that we are not free to choose what we desire is a disease, and it's used to excuse bad behavior. it also takes away agency and hope from those who want to change. it takes willpower, but it is possible to change. what makes changing difficult is lack of experience. it is difficult to choose what we don't know, and negative experiences push you away from trying something that everyone says is good but that you only had bad experiences with. like if you had a bad experience making friends growing up then you will shy away from trying to make friends until you either push yourself to try anyways, or you make some friends by chance and realize that it is a good experience after all. the same goes for food, social media, and everything else.
- bloqs 1y ago
  dopamine
  - FirmwareBurner 1y ago
    Is dopamine a new thing in th human body?
foobar1962 1y ago
It's been going on forever. "Stop looking at the cave art and take the garbage out."
aspenmayer 1y ago
I’m reminded of the intentional usage of whisky, rum, and other alcoholic spirits as an intentional policy of genocide against Native Americans. Also interesting is that during this same period of history, payment of taxes in whisky was common in some states in the western US, and these were federal taxes for debts left over from the Revolutionary War. These adjacent topics are reminiscent of modern national cryptocurrency stockpiles and stablecoin interest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Forty-Three_Gallons_of_Whiskey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Forty-Three_G... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion

It’s fascinating to track which cultures will be absolutely annihilated by the introduction of endless entertainment in a rectangle. (Annihilated in the demographic sense).

infotainment 1y ago

All of them?

vitro 1y ago
Some maybe less.. [0] [0] https://washingtonmorning.com/2025/06/19/how-differently-tiktok-algorithm-displays-content-in-the-us-and-china/ https://washingtonmorning.com/2025/06/19/how-differently-tik...
- alephnerd 1y ago
  TikTok/Douyin isn't alone in impacting a mindset (though it does play a role). I see plenty of parents (even amongst Chinese families) handing a smartphone to their kids to essentially sedate them instead of engaging with them. Honor of Kings, Arena of Valor, and MLBB have similar dopamine rush cycles. Heck, even a bland, aggravating, obnoxious, and stick-up-their-butt social media site like HN can induce similar cycles.

ericmay 1y ago

Isn’t it basically all of them? I mean is there a culture as you say, which I interpret to mean a civilization or country, where iPhones* are affordable and isn’t facing this issue?

alephnerd 1y ago
I've seen similar issues in villages in developing countries like India and Vietnam as well. Parenting is hard, and smartphones reduce the amount of effort it takes anyone to get a dopamine rush, disincentivizing creativity. Smartphones are extremely powerful, but I strongly feel they shouldn't be in the hands of children at least until their adolescence - that way some amount of creativity is forced. Ironically, Steve Jobs was himself a major proponent of how boredom begets curiosity and creativity.
mensetmanusman 1y ago
The US has many sub cultures, it’s too early to tell which survive since smartphones are so new…
- alephnerd 1y ago
  They've been around for almost 20 years now, and 2.5 generations (later millenials, Z, Alpha) have all spent formative years using smartphones. The subcultures have already formed, died out, and formed into new subcultures multiple times already.

FirmwareBurner 1y ago

Entertainment is an effect, not the main cause. It's not the fault of availability of McDonalds that a person chooses to destroy their health eating only burgers, fries and Coke. Healthy options still exist, just that some people choose not to use them. So why do people choose endless entertainment instead of the "healthy options"?

justjico 1y ago
Well, isn’t this just the old paradox of free will. You are free to do whatever you desire. But you are not free to choose your desires.
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  >But you are not free to choose your desires. Couldn't be more false.
- em-bee 1y ago
  hard disagree. this belief that we are not free to choose what we desire is a disease, and it's used to excuse bad behavior. it also takes away agency and hope from those who want to change. it takes willpower, but it is possible to change. what makes changing difficult is lack of experience. it is difficult to choose what we don't know, and negative experiences push you away from trying something that everyone says is good but that you only had bad experiences with. like if you had a bad experience making friends growing up then you will shy away from trying to make friends until you either push yourself to try anyways, or you make some friends by chance and realize that it is a good experience after all. the same goes for food, social media, and everything else.
bloqs 1y ago
dopamine
- FirmwareBurner 1y ago
  Is dopamine a new thing in th human body?

foobar1962 1y ago

It's been going on forever. "Stop looking at the cave art and take the garbage out."

aspenmayer 1y ago

I’m reminded of the intentional usage of whisky, rum, and other alcoholic spirits as an intentional policy of genocide against Native Americans. Also interesting is that during this same period of history, payment of taxes in whisky was common in some states in the western US, and these were federal taxes for debts left over from the Revolutionary War. These adjacent topics are reminiscent of modern national cryptocurrency stockpiles and stablecoin interest. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Forty-Three_Gallons_of_Whiskey https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Forty-Three_G... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion