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This shift has created the . You are not merely a fan of a streamer; you are a "subscriber." You are not watching a show; you are "hanging out" with a friend. Streamers like Kai Cenat, Pokimane, or xQc generate billions of hours of watch time simply by reacting to other entertainment content or playing video games while talking to a chat room.
The sheer volume is exhausting. The "Paradox of Choice" (coined by Barry Schwartz) dictates that more options lead to less happiness. Faced with 50,000 movies on streaming services, many people spend 45 minutes choosing something, watch 10 minutes, decide itβs not perfect, and turn off the TV in frustration. Vixen.17.12.31.Alix.Lynx.The.Layover.XXX.720p.H...
The firehose of TikTok and YouTube Shorts is addictive because it promises novelty without risk. But depth requires risk. To survive the era of popular media, we must occasionally turn off the phone, pick up a 500-page novel, and remember that not all content is created equal. Some of it is merely distraction. Some of it is art. And the ability to tell the difference is the most important media literacy skill of the 21st century. This shift has created the
This exhaustion is driving a return to "slow media" and physical media. Vinyl records are up. Book sales are stable. There is a growing hunger for entertainment content that does not track you, does not algorithmically manipulate you, and ends without a post-credits scene setting up a sequel. The popularity of "cozy gaming" ( Animal Crossing ) and "ambient videos" (Lofi hip hop beats to study to) is a direct rejection of the high-stakes, high-volume nature of modern popular media. Looking forward, the definition of "entertainment content" is about to be irrevocably altered by Generative AI. We are moving from curation to creation . The sheer volume is exhausting
This fragmentation has broken the shared reality. A teenager obsessed with anime vtubers and a retiree obsessed with Fox News live in different media universes. They speak different reference languages. The result is a culture that is richer in variety but poorer in common ground. Perhaps the most significant shift in entertainment content is the demotion of the human executive and the promotion of the algorithm. In the old Hollywood system, a studio head like Louis B. Mayer or a showrunner like Aaron Sorkin decided what you saw. They were flawed, often bigoted, but they were human. They curated.
Look at The Daily Show or Last Week Tonight . John Oliver spends 20 minutes explaining a complex issue like public financing or the opioid crisis, generating more journalistic impact than some network news divisions. Meanwhile, traditional news anchors are now judged on their charisma and meme-ability.
This raises terrifying questions for popular media. If everything is content, is anything culture? If your algorithm feeds you exactly what you want to see, you will never be challenged, never bored, and never surprised. Art requires friction. Algorithms remove friction. So, where does that leave the consumer in 2024? Overwhelmed, but empowered.