[ethbro]

As an older millennial and prolific fiction reader (more so when I was younger and had time), there seems to be a 1:1 correlation between lack of consumption of... "intentional" creative media and lack of hope.

Zoomers and younger millennials don't (as an aggregate class) seem as interested in working through challenging material, given the infinite fire hose of more easily consumed alternatives.

I've shown Kurosawa, Leone, and Tarkovsky films to the demographic, and it was literally like they didn't possess the capability to focus for the requisite durations.

I try to avoid being alarmist from limited sample sizes, but it honestly worries me about what "app-ification" is doing to a generation's brains.

[pjc50]

Hmm. I think pacing is an issue there, but on the other hand I'm someone who finds most youtube content too slow but enjoys Leone.

Your description of intentional is interesting there. I guess the opposite isn't "unintentional" but "adhoc" or "reality"?

The problem may be just political awareness; the more attention you pay to that kind of thing the more alarmed you get, and that may well be a reasonable response.

[ethbro]

I spent a while on word choice, as nothing seemed to fit.

The best I can describe the alternative is (most of this via conversations w/ kids in the 12 and 18 age ranges) essentially as you've said: "adhoc" or "reality" (in the post-Instagram, staged-but-effecting-effortless sense).

Perhaps a better dialectic basis is "desire" vs lack of same.

It seems innocuous to say you can have more and less edited media creation styles. But the distinction I'm groping for is more in intent of the creator.

What do they want? What is your average YouTuber trying to get across via their creative choices?

It feels like democratization of publishing has resulted in Facebook for the arts: consumption driven primarily by catering to baser human neurological ticks, rather than via an author's studied intention. And the latter being drowned out by an infinite mass of the former.

And worst of all, audience / consumers being re-baselined with the expectation that creators aren't actually exercising intent in their choices, and so lose the ability to recognize it when it does exist.

[Melting_Harps]

> As an older millennial and prolific fiction reader (more so when I was younger and had time), there seems to be a 1:1 correlation between lack of consumption of... "intentional" creative media and lack of hope.

I'm likely of the same age group as you and have encountered similar observations in just about all other age groups, there simply is a lack of desire for hard-nosed optimism in exchange of numbing escapism (be it in the form social media of contrived/trite traditional media and video games) as its what is sought out most.

I'm not going to try and portray that my early readings of philosophy or even my deep fascination with Aldous Huxley and Neal Stephenson books are solely what compelled me to view the World in an optimistic manner, and then later act up on for most of my young to adult life be it in environmentalism or activism. That came from a lot of often perception shattering and heart-breaking experience of Humanity's myopic toll on this Planet.

But what those books did do is give me a coping mechanism found in a great deal of story telling. It allowed me to endure and try to come to terms with the very uncomfortable truths about the Human Condition that were being discussed since the advent of Western Society in Greece and similarly found in Huxely's novels as well as many other cyberpunk genres which is best summed as the following: In the World of the insane, the rational man doesn't become King, he gets lynched!

And we see that today with the situation with Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, many activists in Hong Kong, citizen journalists and physicians in China during the outbreak of COVID etc...

I think the experiences taken away from those books and novels are that an individual's success (or survival) may not be possible, but the Human Spirit to defy that and try against all odds an inspire others to follow is a worthy and noble path, but it's an entirely ignored aspect for so many.

Which leads to wide-spread pessimism, and even misanthropy, which if I'm honest makes me as worried of the impacts of climate change and warfare sometimes because it makes me re-evaluate if its even worth the MASSIVE undertaking if that is what remains of the Human Spirit for so many.

In short: it's not an age thing, its a Person thing; one that has been exploited by major media (be it traditional or social) as an institution to foment a culture addicted to outrage and cancel culture to onboard them on to their platforms/goods/services which if looked objectively and detached from emotion kind of serve as a pressure release to an otherwise very unjust World.

I can't help but recall the role of Roman circuses, the death of Archimedes or even the burning of the Library of Alexandra in saying all of that and how ingrained that's been in Humans.