People are getting more bored despite endless streaming options

[Canada Goose]

The boredom epidemic is on the rise.

A new study published by Communications Psychology by Katy Y.Y. Tam and Michael Inzlicht found that people are more bored than ever before — and digital media use is to blame.

Despite the endless amount of entertainment content that is accessible in today’s world, the data from the study titled “People Are Increasingly Bored in Our Digital Age” showed that there’s a higher rate of people reporting experiences of boredom.


Adolescents and college students in particular are feeling bored more frequently since 2009, the study said.



One research finding used in the study discovered a rising trend in boredom frequency from 2010 to 2017 with U.S. secondary school students. A similar increase in boredom was found from 2009 to 2020 through 64 studies involving Chinese college students.

Tam and Inzlicht said they believe digital media is actually heightening the feeling of boredom, a conclusion they came to from their findings.

First, they argued that digital media creates a great stimulation for people, which makes them uninterested in activities with lower stimulation like reading a book or attending a lecture.

Tam and Inzlicht cited other experience-sampling studies, which track individuals’ boredom levels in real time, to prove their argument. They said that most people are more bored after engaging with digital media.


Another piece of evidence is that digital media “fragments attention,” as the study put it, meaning people have a harder time focusing on one singular activity. Smartphones, for example, create so many distractions for people that disrupts their focus.

Link to rest of the article: People are getting more bored despite endless entertainment content: study


Another article about the same topic: Endless digital media was supposed to cure boredom forever — except the opposite is true

 

[Silkk]

Too many fuccking stream options


Back in my days we had six channels and nothing played on TV at night

 

[re'up]

Because endless options digitally, just like dating app scrolling or social media scrolling, numbs you to the pleasures of real life, outside the digital world, which only gives you a steady dopamine drip, enough to keep you there without really thrilling you.

so everything becomes boring and stale.

 

[Peruvian Connect]

Too many fuccking stream options


Back in my days we had six channels and nothing played on TV at night

you close to 60 my boy

 

[Silkk]

you close to 60 my boy

That was the 90s

 

[Luke Cage]

Because you still gotta decide which one of these options you want to watch. I spend hours scrolling until i can find something.
Before you just choose the best of limited options.
I like Family Fued for example, but it would never be first choice for entertainment. In fact not even in the top 20. I watched it because it was either that or Jerry Springer or some other bs.
With Netflix or something you like, "i can find something better than Family Fued.." and you keep scrolling... and scrolling, andd scrolling,

 

[Canada Goose]

When I rode the subway in NYC and peeped my eye at other ppl's phone I noticed that people would jump from app to app on their phone. It was like a mobile version of that superhero GIF where he was jumping from screen to screen with his finger.



I can't watch a TV drama episode without looking at my phone during the episode, I can watch comedies without looking at my phone though

 

[AquaCityBoy]

Hedonic adaptation.

Overexposure to the same stimuli renders that stimuli ineffective

Same way in the 2000s there were hundreds of channels but "nothing to watch."

 

[987654321]

Too many fuccking stream options


Back in my days we had six channels and nothing played on TV at night

You got a few more if you went outside and turn the big ass outdoor antenna until your family yells at you through the window.

 

[re'up]

When I rode the subway in NYC and peeped my eye at other ppl's phone I noticed that people would jump from app to app on their phone. It was like a mobile version of that superhero GIF where he was jumping from screen to screen with his finger.



I can't watch a TV drama episode without looking at my phone during the episode, I can watch comedies without looking at my phone though

Apps and social media have fried people's attention spans to an extreme degree. I think people's brains are kind of rewired through those same feedback loops. A lot of people of all ages have a hard time with staying on topic, and not being distracted.

 

[Biblical Goon]

Tbh it really exposes how much the cover art for movies and tv shows suck because that’s the first thing we look at to make a decision.

 

[Mike18jj]

It be like that forreal, I got like 13 different streaming apps I got access to and I only watch like 3 in a constant manner.

 

[Redwood]

I'm not bored though

Maybe it's because I don't expect much

 

[Luke Cage]

Apps and social media have fried people's attention spans to an extreme degree. I think people's brains are kind of rewired through those same feedback loops. A lot of people of all ages have a hard time with staying on topic, and not being distracted.

I'm not sure about that though, because i know people who are glued to their phones 24/7 except when gaming, And then suddenly they can binge for hours at a time playing the same game. You got people wearing diapers because they won't get up to shyt they so glued to the Xbox or PS5.

I think its just the awareness that something potentially more interesting is a click away. Video games manage to still be more interesting to people than twitter or whatever,but TV shows aren't as interesting as the internet.

 

[BobbyWojak]

Fake ass study