[cyberferret]

The advertising industry (which includes general media) have a lot to answer for there. They've been "programming" 2 to 3 generations now to just buy stuff and pay attention to people making the most noise for attention.

Not having had a TV in the house for over 8 years now, I was reintroduced to the world of free to air TV during our Christmas holidays when we went away for a month and stayed with friends who were avid TV watchers.

Been that long since I had seen a TV advertisement, and I was astounded at the how banal and low brow most advertising is these days. I seem to remember a time when ads were clever and creative, but the ones I kept seeing with monotonous regularity were nothing more than quick sound bites ordering people to go buy junk or watch more crap. Everything was really disjointed and jarring to me - I actually came across a couple of shows that I wanted to watch, but they never seemed to get started - every few minutes there was an interruption telling me what else I "couldn't miss" watching, which are just more shows that will in turn have interruptions to watch other shows. Oddly, my friends who owned the TV didn't seem to see a problem.

Really makes me wonder if TV audiences these days are just conditioned to have such a short attention span and are used to being forced fed suggestions like this. Or perhaps they are so hardened to it that advertising companies have to just blast short messages to them with all the subtlety of a drone strike?

Time for humanity to take control back over their time and attention, otherwise it will just be "All glory to the Hypnotoad"...

[Decade]

> I was astounded at the how banal and low brow most advertising is these days. I seem to remember a time when ads were clever and creative, but the ones I kept seeing with monotonous regularity were nothing more than quick sound bites ordering people to go buy junk or watch more crap.

No, the ads were bad 8 years ago, too. You just remembered the clever ones because they were your only reason to tune in to the Super Bowl.

I blame the news organizations. Self-appointed gatekeepers of truth. I stopped watching mainstream news many years ago, before I lost my TV, because it was so bland and distorted and a tremendous waste of time. Not in a fun way.

And after experiencing several horse races, I decided to stay away from the election news cycle, too. I voted in both the primary and the general, and my choices for both lost, but it was so pleasant to know everything I needed to know about the presidential candidates such a long time in advance.

[jusq2]

I am with you. The attention economy has all kinds of unintended side effects that don't seem to have any great solutions.

And its not just advertising most entertainment/propaganda/marketing is designed to just get an instant reaction. No contemplation necessary. Kind of like porn.

And if we have to be honest hacker news is very similar. Nobody needs this much news.

[cyberferret]

You hit the nail on the head. The ads I saw didn't seem to elicit any thought or feedback or discussion. It was more like "Here - go do/watch this. I'll be back shortly to tell you again soon!". Almost like training a dog. Rote repetition and ever increasing sense of urgency and the fear of missing out.

A clear case of over promising and under delivering - and yet my friends seemed to be content with lapping that up rather than questioning it or making moves to reject it. It really is like those dystopian stories where humans are enslaved by the messages emanating from their TVs. Honestly, I felt like taking a shower after each TV watching session...

I've been home a month now, and not missing having a TV one iota!

[justifier]

do you eat meat?

alterations to follow:

~Not having had meat in the house for over 8 years now, I was reintroduced to the world of eating meat during our holidays when we went away for a month and stayed with friends who were avid meat eaters.

~Been that long since I had eaten meat, and I was astounded at the how banal and low brow most meat options are these days. I seem to remember a time when meat meals were clever and creative, but the ones I kept eating with monotonous regularity were nothing more than quick bites causing people to go buy junk or eat more crap.

~Everything was really disjointed and jarring to me - I actually came across a couple of meals that I wanted to eat, but they never seemed to get started - every few minutes there was an interruption telling me what else I "couldn't miss" eating, which are just more meals that will in turn have interruptions to eat other meals. Oddly, my friends who eat meat didn't seem to see a problem.

~Really makes me wonder if meat eaters these days are just conditioned to have such a short attention span and are used to being forced fed suggestions like this. Or perhaps they are so hardened to it that advertising companies have to just blast short messages to them with all the subtlety of a drone strike?

~Time for humanity to take control back over their health and environment, otherwise it will just be "You're vegetarians, who cares what you do?" (o)...

i think steak is gross now and i have friends who have said the idea that they could start to dislike meat, if they stopped eating it, was reason to keep eating it

reminds me of rush, "What you say about his company, Is what you say about society"(i)

(o) https://youtu.be/xkR2XEYEFgk

(i) https://youtu.be/auLBLk4ibAk

(i/2) lyrics: http://www.rush.com/songs/tom-sawyer/

[agildehaus]

You have a selective memory. There are clever ads today and there are banal, completely stupid ads going all the way back to the 50s.

[cyberferret]

Perhaps, or perhaps I just saw a bad selection and missed the good bits. But overall, my impression was also that the ads of old seemed to explain, or showcase the product in question a little. Current ads seem to sometimes even fail to explain exactly what it is they are selling. The product or message tends to get lost in the panicky sense of urgency and flashy 'in your face' noise and light.