[sametmax]

I'm french, we have one of the weakest offer in the netflix world. It's still way, way more content I could (sanely) consume in my entire life.

I think the problem comes from something else.

Regularly I watch movies with friends: they can't appreciate many good movies anymore. They need fast attention catching stuff. Otherwise they get bored, they loose focus (even watch their phone), and it snowballs since they miss pieces of the movie used to construct it that eventually gives it life.

I see plenty of netflix watchers that do it on the side, while browsing the web, in the background of a social activity, or even watching another movie (!).

You cannot taste "Scott Pilgrim", "The Shawshank redemption", "12 monkeys", "Forest Gump", "Pain and Gain" and "Life is beautiful" if you watch them the way you gulp "Rogue 1", get drunk on "Avengers" or skim "Transformers". Just like you don't eat a burger and osters the same way if you want to enjoy both of them.

In fact, you can't appreciate anything special that way. The problem here is not netflix. It's that the way many people consume things now will always leave them unsatisfied.

Also, there is a quantity effect. You can now watch more than you should, and many do. But it will make you numb.

And to finish on a more positive note, the fact we have watched so many things now also educated us more to what's quality and what is not. It's fair we have now higher expectations.

[cableshaft]

There was always ways to consume things on the side. I remember way before Netflix (around 2003) I went through a phase of about six months where every day I would come home from work, put a playlist of Mr. Show on my computer (a single TV show that only had 30 episodes), and play Dynasty Warriors 3 for 2 to 3 hours. I probably rewatched Mr. Show at least 10 times in that six months.

And after the first time I mostly didn't look at it anymore, it was just the audio I chose to play while I was playing the game, and since I'd already seen the whole series, it was predictable and didn't distract too much from the game playing.

I don't find watching TV to be that virtuous, and usually when I'm doing it I'm feeling guilty for not doing other things. So yeah, I'll do that as a 'side thing' and not feel too bad about it.

However, it's gotten more difficult than it used to be, as I used to think that TV wasn't too good and was an easy to skip medium, now I think there's just waaaay too much good stuff, I just have to actively choose not to watch it (like so far I've managed not to watch any Marvel TV shows on Netflix, but it's always there tempting me).

It's also usually the only leisure activity we can do together in the evenings during the week that my girlfriend feels like doing, so that's how I keep up with Game of Thrones, West World, Silicon Valley, Doctor Who, and whatnot. But I might be designing something on the computer while we're watching them.

I wish it were easier to write with TV on in the background though. I'm getting way, way behind on that.

[asdff]

Have you considered that nothing really changed with how much attention people give to movies? You are only looking at your friend's behavior, and assuming that the story would change if you lived in another decade. You can't rule out that even in the days where movies were only shown in a theater, that maybe 10% of the audience was paying enough attention to truly appreciate the film and not distracted with other thoughts. Being an active and engaged watcher is difficult work, and it can be as hard as analytical reading for many people. Cell phones and the internet also didn't invent trite, low effort, distracting content; that stuff is as old as writing.