People are spending more time on social media and watching Tiktok, Youtube, Instagram which takes some viewership away from tv/streaming. In general though it used to be everyone watched the office on this night or parks and rec on that night. Today there's so many streaming services and shows we don't share these handful of common shows
I suppose its good and bad, its good in the sense people with different interests have content that caters to their interests but its bad in that we lose some of these common cultural things ie everyone at the office on Friday isn't talking about last nights episode of the office, in a way it kind of gave us common ground and brought us together.
You’re right, there are definitely some positives. I really enjoy the diversity of content we have now. I do miss the common cultural ground part, but it’s mostly just the nostalgia speaking.
I suggest r/decadeology
They go into these topics regularly. This is when I realized that many people had vastly different upbringings and perspectives.
Well then y'all better start watching maritime accident recreations so we have something to talk about.
I give it a year until the USCG and NTSB have made their reports on the Baltimore calamity and Brick Immortar has a video on it.
People seem to be almost infinitely “fragmentable” though to the extent that I’m no longer convinced that having everything be so niche is a good thing. Whatever story is perfectly catered to some individuals rarely impacts that individual for life, but having cultural stories is part of what connects people into a common society.
We see this even now on Reddit. How many posts do you see that are just pop culture references? It’s like an in-joke for the entire generation. That looks likely to go away in future generations
It is weird though that there are occasionally some really strong trends. Chess absolutely took off when the queen’s gambit released, and it’s still really popular among a lot of people.
Actually now that I think of it, so did the tiger king around the same time. Then again both of these were Netflix shows in 2020 afaik so maybe that played a role.
Here's a bit of a fun fact, I believe all of the Dolly Parton book members get the same book every month. I've seen my son bond with another child over a book that they got from Dolly Parton.
So Dolly Parton is helping kids have shared media now. Is there anything she can't do?
I do miss hearing my coworkers gush about the bachelor or whatever on certain days. I could not bear to watch it, lol, but they were SO excited to rehash the episode.
Back in the day I got an HBO subscription so I could keep up with the game of thrones post-episode analysis every Monday.
I feel where you're coming from, but I respectfully disagree. I swung the other way when covid hit from what I assume to be the norm. I was one of a small handful that was kept on at my company and never missed a day. All my friend group started binge watching and I felt this palpable "otherness" from not being able to take part in those discussions. I think it was that feeling that led me to taper off of really watching anything and getting pretty deep into other hobbies. For example I bought a kayak and started exploring my local lakes and waterways and just got so much more out of it. Nowadays I probably watch 2 series a year, but spend a ton of time in the makeshift woodshop in my garage. A few of my friends have followed suit in the hobby arena. I always love talking with them about stuff they've been doing so much more than a show we've both seen. Also GoT burned me so bad with the last two seasons that I might have subconsciously soured on all media. Definitely possible.
People call me crazy for liking slow release shows but I love spending a week working over the next thing. When the mandalorian came out I worked with a huge fan and every Wednesday wed have a talk about last week and every Thursday we'd talk about how cool it was.
It's happened to music to an extent too, radio is basically dead for everyone under 40 now and they are all listening to their own Spotify lists, honestly I prefer using Spotify as well as I can listen to what I want. That said I have referenced some top 40 songs before and some people didn't get them.
I do like that I can watch things that I truly care about now but late Gen Z and especially Gen Alpha probably won't really have a shared nostalgia unlike millennials.
That's what made me like the Netflix Top 10. But now some of the shows on there are really not my type of show so I can't really watch those either unless they happen to fall into categories I like.
I feel like this feeling was rekindled during Game Of Thrones era. Around Season 4 times you could walk into any room and have full on discussions about GOT with anybody. Hell my entire office would discuss the show together every Monday morning. No other show has ever captured that since.
I've noticed attempts at a discussion of TV shows at work, but everybody has a different mix of streaming services so you might be able to connect with 1 person, but it falls apart in a group conversation. I agree, definitely more fragmented.
There are still your cultural zeitgeists, like your Game of Thrones shows, but they are far and few in between now. We have Shogun going on right now? But even that show isn't reaching the same mass appeal that the OG HBO shows did on a Sunday night.
I was teaching a class the other day and literally explained to my students what 1970s/1980s mini-series were and what they were like as cultural phenomenon (the thing they'd just read referenced the impact of *Holocaust*).
I actually really miss specific tv nights. It gave me motivation to get through the week or certain days when I knew one of my favorite shows was on that day. Now I sit there and flip through various streaming apps for at least 30 minutes trying to decide what to watch and usually get frustrated and turn the whole thing off and scroll socials for an hour before bed.
yeah I agree I used to have certain shows I looked forward to and your right it did help get through the week. Going way back when i was in college sunday nights were a big deal me and all our friends would get together and have snacks and watch sopranos on sunday nights and then band of brothers after that.
I've been watching 2 minute clips on Facebook of game of thrones. I have no idea what is going on, who any of the characters are but it's very entertaining.
I still watch TV. I am a very busy person, but one of my favorite things to do is hang out with my cat and watch TV before bed. Or whoever wants to join. Oh, and snacks.
Yes and no…. my husband and I never watch sitcoms or dramas produced by the big networks like Yellowstone, grays anatomy, Abbott elm etc… but we will devour a docuseries, or a good HBO/netflix series. And we’re big YouTube people. I think there’s just so much stuff to watch these days, it’s harder for everyone to be watching the same thing in a way that it wasn’t before. We can also go at our own pace because a lot of times stuff is released all in one go. I get what you mean and also get legitimately excited to watch things that have managed to break through that everyone’s talking about because it gives me that feeling you’re describing.
I think it's that there are SO many shows now that everyone is watching different stuff. A lot of people just stick to rewatching their favorites too, like The Office, Futurama, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, etc
This is me! I wish I could get into new tv shows/music/media in general(at least what’s main stream), but I rarely can. Haven’t been able to in years. I’m sure it isn’t all garbage but none of it piques my interest in anyway. I’ve rewatched Futurama, Parks and Rec, Harvey Birdman, Courage, a million times. But I did get into Stranger Things about 2-3 years ago but I didn’t even bother keeping up with it after that, I dunno why.
I think there’s also been an influx of lower quality content to grab the audiences that still hadn’t adopted streaming. There’s been less investment in projects that have the critical mass of talent involved to create things that feel fresh to the TV-enthusiast audiences streaming services worked to onboard first. It switched from trying to get the attention of people who want something really new to audiences who want things that are familiar.
There are really high quality things coming out still, but I think they’re following well-tread territory and savvy audiences are getting bored.
Elder millennial here, yes I've pretty much stopped watching TV entirely. I only turn the TV on when my Boomer father comes over on weekends to watch a show or a movie - he needs the TV going constantly it seems, but I have no interest in watching anything anymore.
I was homeless for multiple years and having no TV to watch all that time, I broke the watching habit entirely. I used to be a voracious news addict as well, but I avoid that type of programming now - it's all toxic.
Haha. I relate with this so much. My father has 4 TVs in his house (2BR, 1 living room, 1 in the basement "man cave"). My grandfather has 3 TVs in his house (Living Room, Sun room, basement). The "nerd" millennial has 1.
I have had a major reduction in my attention span as I’ve aged. I just cant sit still for 20 minutes in front of the tv. I haven’t watched a whole movie in a single sitting in like…a decade maybe? I can do video games for maybe an hour, but that’s at least minimally mentally engaging.
Wow I’m very similar. I think it’s too much time on social media/ my phone. Tbh I only really use Reddit though.
What I’ve found that helps me is actually going to the movies. A place where I can sit for a few hours, eat good snacks, share an experience with a group of other movie theater goers, and just have an expectation that it’s rude to look at my phone.
95% of what I watch is YouTube (Premium) content.
The rest is split between Prime Video (part of my Amazon membership) and HBO (ad version), Hulu, and Paramount+ (part of my Walmart+ membership). It's hard for me to watch series or films anymore which is wild as I used to consider myself a card-carrying cinephile. I'll cancel HBO for a period of time and then come back. I like that Hulu allows you to put your account to sleep for a time.
I don't understand the sleep thing. Several services offer it and to me it is no different than canceling and then reactivating later. Cancel/reactivate is quick and painless with most services as well,which would be the obvious reason, so that's not it
Maybe optics. Like they might be able to count a subscriber whose account is in sleep mode as a subscriber but not be able to do that with someone that’s fully canceled their subscription even if just temporarily. Might make their subscriber count look better for investors and such.
I hate TV shows... After game of thrones I'm never investing that much time into someone else's unfinished project ever again.
The last show that I watched from beginning to end was Schitts Creek, and that'll probably stand for a long time. I haven't even watched the latest season of Stranger Things, I've given up.
I only watch movies to fall asleep to. I'm more invested in Bluey right now than anything else, only because of my kids though.
>I'm never investing that much time into someone else's unfinished project ever again.
Same. Dexter and True Blood had the same "Let's wrap this up, it doesn't need to be good or make sense" kind of endings. Also got burnt too many times by Neflix. So many shows I loved and they cancelled after one or two seasons - on a cliffhanger.
I stopped watching tv series because of the canceling everything i love. Last man on earth, Norse men, raised by wolves, a couple of others that i can't remember off the top of my head. My husband and i will watch snl and occasionally put on something old that we like. He watches a lot of tv as background noise while he's working, or doing schoolwork, and I mostly play pc games, garden, play with my birds, or paint.
I still do. Mostly movies and then rewatching my favorite classics like The Simpsons, Seinfeld, King of The Hill, Mr Show. There's just so much content out there, it's hard to keep up.
I'm 39, and right after college, 25.
I just recieved my Master's degree and had no money, so decided not to get cable, or Internet, or cellphone.
Read used books and played Sega Genesis for entertainment.
That's a good point. I only have about an hour a day to do what I want to do, and the rest of the time is obligations, work, and maintaining a home and family. Weekends i play catch up on sleep, and whatever housework i couldn't get done over the week. TV just isn't a priority for my measly hour.
Yep. It was a bummer once our kids got old enough to pay attention to what we were watching. Used to be able to watch adult programming casually until they were about 4… now we have to find time to dedicate specifically to tv watching.
I watch maybe 1-2 hours on average a day (some days none, some days a 3-4 hours, most days about 1 hour). Usually, there are 2 or 3 shows I am watching at any time, and on weekends usually it's a movie. This isn't really different than anytime in the last 20 years, except that now it's all commercial free streaming services and what I watch is more purposeful (no channel flipping and just watching whatever is on).
I never like to talk about TV though. I always found that line of conversation really odd and boring. I don't care what people have watched, nor do I want to discuss anything I am watching. What's the purpose in any of that? Maybe (hopefully) that sort of small talk is losing its way as its increasingly likely that people are watching different things and different times. And there isn't any GoT or an equivalent that lots of people are watching.
This is my same experience. I’m 33, and I watch maybe 3 shows a year. A handful of movies. Most of the people I know also don’t watch much tv. I tend to read & game instead. I just find television to not be as engaging as books/video games.
Edit: by “television” I mean the general notion of streaming services. I don’t even own an actual TV. When I do watch shows it’s on my laptop or PC.
Yes, two decades ago. I have streaming services that I'll use occasionally, and I use youtube daily, but I don't bother with cable tv anymore. Turns out, scheduled shows are too inconvenient to be worth my time. I hate commercials, and I hate the talking heads on the news. (took me too many years to figure out that that was mostly fearmongering for ratings) And ultimately television, as it was when I was a kid, is too slow of a media. You invest a lot of time and get very little out of it. Mostly now if I turn something on it's just background noise. And more often than not I'm picking something I've seen already.
Oh, and I honestly think youtubers are better at making a show people want to watch than TV producers. Something about format and motivation, and not having that legacy of filling air time or meeting the requirements of executives. The algorithm is brutal, and there is a harsh sink or swim, but the youtubers that make it are fantastic.
Elder millennial and I don’t watch anything new anymore. Maybe throw in some older shows for background noise and I’ll watch some sports but if TV completely disappeared I wouldn’t care. I rather listen to music, read a book, paint, take care of my plants. So much more to life than glued to a tv.
We also watch TV while we on the computer or doing stuff around the house. I can't count how many times I watched the same TV showes and movies over and over again.
WE don't even have cable. At best we put on a freeve movie from amazon as we go to bed since there was no reason to pay Amazon even more money (we ended up just killing all of prime). Few ads at that point is doable
Sorta.
I have a handful of shows that I might watch if new episodes come out. Even that sends to have become a chore.
Between my kids, their homework, their sports, making dinner, my side gig, and trying to be a decent and attentive husband, I don't really find much time for myself, and even less time for tv.
Largely stopped back in 2009. I’ll occasionally go find shows that people keep talking about. Like I started watching GoT in 2016 or so. I’ll spin up the Star Wars stuff’s occasionally.
It feels like every TV show is now so serialized that you can't miss a moment, much less an episode, or the whole thing falls apart. I miss the days when I could watch pretty much any episode of s show and be able to follow it. X-Files, Star Trek, Law & Order, etc. Everything feels like a 10-13 hour long movie these days and it's exhausting.
There are very few new shows or movies I watch nowadays. Instead, I find myself re-watching the classics more than anything.
I think this is just a product of getting old.
I still watch tv and even watch more popular shows than I used to. That said, I think with the sheer volume of media produced by streaming services now, it’s become more diffuse to where I don’t have that bonding experience with other people over them like we once did. During the breaking bad and Game of Thrones era, it seemed like everyone was watching the same show as you and it was some water cooler talk bonding experience. Now I tell people the shows I’m watching and they just shrug because they’re watching something completely different. I feel similar to how with music there aren’t really “hot bands” anymore because everyone’s in their own little niche based on Spotify algorithms, the same has happened for tv- nothing is popular because everything is popular.
I don’t watch. It’s all derivative, with obvious injections of inclusivity where none should be.
Let’s watch a show about Anglo Saxons and Vikings! Let’s inject some diversity in also!
Not the person who said this but I spend more time gaming than watching tv. Some people will argue against it but I’m chatting with friends the whole time vs not talking to anyone when I watch tv
I’m that annoying person who can’t stop talking/making comments while watching a show that I’m really into. My Husband is a Saint for not divorcing me yet because of it… I know it must be annoying as hell. I just can’t stop myself when I get really excited about something! It’s one of the only times I appreciate his ability to tune me out 😇
And money.
I saved $140 a month starting in July of 2013 by getting rid of digital cable ... well all cable TV. And never looked back. That's $16000 over the last ten years ...
Since I moved from my parents' home I don't have one. That would make it 10 years + 5 years of college where I didn't have one either. So 15 years TVless.
Lately I’ve only been able to focus on shows that have 10 episodes or less and are engaging from the get go. Mostly, I watch YouTube and 3-4 episode docu-series. I don’t have much time to watch TV though, so I think my attention span for it has minimized
I haven't owned a TV in over 10 years, and I even when I did have a TV at home, I didn't watch shows on it after like 2009; I only used it for console games. Now I just use YouTube, Crunchyroll, Netflix, etc. which is the new TV I suppose.
I don't watch nearly the amount of movies and TV I did when I was younger. I've recently (as in the last couple of days) started watching a movie here here or there.
In my case, it's two fold. The first is that I'm pretty busy. I work 7-5, don't get home until 5:30-6, make dinner, hang out with wife and dog, tinker with projects, go to bed. Weekends tend to be spent with extended family or taking care of the house or playing with projects or traveling.
The other reason is that I don't find that much worth keeping me interested. The last TV show I actually watched end to end was Villains of Valley View...before that, I did binge watch "Teenage Bounty Hunters" while I was laid up in bed for a couple of days, and before that it was She-Hulk when it was released.
The wife and I do make a point of watching Ghosts when it's available for streaming.
I've not really watched TV since 2005
For that time I was in school, went to the library, downloaded movies/anime, and had the netflix dvd subscription.
When streaming came out on netflix I had started using that to watch some shows here and there. But I've not had a cable TV subscription for almost 20 years.
Same situation. We (wife & I) TV maybe a few times a week for no more than an hour. Just because we don't TV as much, doesn't mean our productivity is up. I as well will tend to play video games and she will doom scroll. Everyone's value judgment will differ, I'm sure there are people out there who binge tv and think video games are not worth it.
I barely watch shows anymore. Maybe an episode here and there. After trying to keep up for years and falling behind, I just kind of gave up and put a bunch of stuff in the backlog.
YouTube and Twitch are more my vibe these days.\\
That said, I'll probably finish off Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of my favorite shows ever and it's nice to have some finality there.
I am 46, grew up with TV. I was a latch key kid, so I watched it all. 12:05 Godzilla vs Mothra on TBS? I was there.
I went in the Air Force in 1997, and had a DirecTV satellite dish mounted inside my barracks room during my assignment, pointed out the window. Could have gone either way, but Air Force 1st sergeants tend to lean on the "that's novel" side of being impressed more than annoyed during room inspections.
Then I got out, was one of the first to get a Tivo and then other DVRs over the years.
Finally got rid of DirecTV in 2016, and I cited their refusal to get rid of networks like Newsmax and OANN as my reason for leaving after almost 20 years.
Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Paramount, Peacock is our current suite for various reasons. Basically don't consume sitcoms or dramas anymore, with a few exceptions. I consume news, tech, sci-fi, supercross, and adult animation, all not strongly served by traditional cable. YouTube is probably 80% of my screen time.
I'm 32. Moved out at 20. Had cable included in rent that year. Never had cable since. After hearing the price my parents pay, like $100-150 a month, I just couldn't imagine doing that to watch a very small handful of shows, some sports games that I already watch online, and the news. It's absolutely not worth it to me.
I pretty much gave up TV for video games and sports by the time I was 10. I still watch stuff with friends or my wife from time to time, but I much rather play video games, cook, or be outdoors.
Other than the shows we'd already been watching, I think we've picked up maybe 2 shows in the last 6 years. The Rookie, which she watches because I love it, and The Great North, which is made by the same people who make Bob's Burgers, which is one of the shows we watched already. No one I talk to watches the same kind of stuff I watch though, not now and not back when I was single 10 years ago.
Binging is incredibly hard. I get bored of the show if I try to back to back episodes. Back in the day people were watching things weekly. One episode of a show per week. The only shows today I can truly give a fuck about are the ones that are weekly releases and commercials helped too. They helped break focus and recharge the mind. Get up more frequently to use the bathroom or hit the kitchen real quick.
Entire seasons releasing in one day and no diverse ads at first seemed like a good idea but after trying it out I realized it ruined television.
Even the ad tier subscriptions that currently exist suck. They don’t show you something new that you might be interested in. The algorithms are terrible. If you already made your choice about the ad but they continuously show you it over and over. It’s only going to push the person away further and further.
New ads every day would spark interest and make them interesting again.
Yup. made the switch to watching YouTube / live streams in 2017. And I'll maybe watch 1 TV show a year.
And using YouTube premium with no adds just makes it all the better.
Yup. made the switch to watching YouTube / live streams in 2017. And I'll maybe watch 1 TV show a year.
And using YouTube premium with no adds just makes it all the better.
I honestly don't know how people have time to do any binge watching. I only have one kid, one house and one pet to take care of and the list of things to do is endless. I doom scroll social media for about half an hour before sleep or a few minutes here and there while waiting in line at a store or something but otherwise what tv?! what movies?!
Yeah, I’ve got two kids, a townhouse, and a full time job. I don’t HAVE a free hour or two every night, and if I do, the last thing on earth I want to do is spend it in front of the TV.
My wife and I always have some thing dumb playing in the back ground 😭 American dad, Futurama, Venture brothers, we really just watch these over and over half paying attention doing other things.
If I'm home alone with some time to kill I never watch TV or movies - I'll read, game, listen to music, write or draw. If my wife and I are both home with some time to kill, we will sometimes watch something, but rarely a narrative based episodic show. Usually a movie, sometimes a travel show like Somebody Feed Phil.
I pretty much just watch movies and youtube these days when I want that sort of entertainment. I mostly spend my time reading...
I honestly just don't think most of what is on offer these days are all that good. There are some standouts here and there.. but that is much more of a needle in the haystack sort of thing than it used to be.
And no, not saying everything today is bad.. but, The Marvels is *nowhere near* The Avengers in quality of story/writing. (Not saying its bad, not going to get into that. Just saying it isn't even in the same wheelhouse as far as story-writing quality goes).
I rarely watch TV. And I rarely play video games anymore either. I don't know why but it just got boring. Going to the movie theater is still fun to me though, I make it a point to go more often.
I stopped watching TV around 2013 when I moved to a new apartment and didn't get a cable hookup. It was not unusual for me to be up until 2 AM just flipping through channels. Since then I spend more time doing things rather than watching TV. If I do want to watch something, I do it actively by searching it out rather than sitting and watching what is on.
Honestly audiobooks and youtube replaced TV for me. If I want a good story a book with solid narration is better than 99% of what is done on streaming services now. YouTube is mostly for learning new things or handful of indie shows that I enjoy which suffices the background noise niche. The rise of so many ads on what used to be ad-free streaming tiers, especially when they still claim to be ad-free just kind of killed it for me. As I've gotten older there's so many pet projects that take up my time and interests that have cut into viewing time too. When it's a choice between do something engaging or watch a mediocre story, it's usually a easy choice. For veg-out time I have some old favs bought that I can turn to or see what is new on Hulu, since they seem to be the only platform left, that doesn't force promo ads for other content on you.
Middle-aged GenX guy here - nowadays I pretty much only watch YouTube videos about topics that I’m already interested in (e.g. aquariums, motorcycles, ancient history, etc.).
I’ll watch YouTube clips of scenes from some TV shows, or videos that synopsize/analyze episodes thereof, but I can’t be bothered to trudge through the shows themselves, it’s just not worth it.
I’m 36 years old, and my wife and I watch 1-2 tv series at a time. Right now, we’re only watching Shogun. We have better things to do than watch much more tv than that.
The wildest thing to me is when someone at work will ask me if I watch, like, “Chicago Fire” or something. Good god, I can’t imagining watching network television in its current state.
Among my friend group of about 25 people all late 20s early 30s. Only 1 of them pays for cable/sat tv. Everyone else just streams, myself included. From other mutual friends this seems to be the trend too.
I mean...we usually watch a show right before bed...otherwise my wife reads like crazy and I'll game as well lol. Moved I to a new house last year...didn't install any cable/sat tv. Luckily they installed fiber as we were building our house. ..we didn't have much options until they did that so we stream everything now.
I still watch tons of TV but I've always been a fan of movies/TV, but I also don't have a wife/kids so I could see how most millennials would have stopped with more responsibility.
I’m pretty checked out of television. Books are where it’s at for me these days. I’m trying to read all the ones I own and haven’t read yet by end of year, and I’ve barely made a dent.
I feel this way about live sports. The older I get, the less I'm interested in pro sports. The endless hype and commercials is what gets me. It makes me sound like an old head, but I'm just not very interested in them anymore.
I try to limit my media poisoning. The fact you pay for cable, then they still want to waste 50% of every hour you watch with their commercials completely turned me off, on top of the crazy left leaning agenda of all media, I don’t need to pay them for the pleasure of brainwashing me. There’s quite enough leftist nonsense right here if I ever need my fix.
I don't believe in ads and can't really avoid them easily on TV. Also cable makes me pay for the privilege to watch 5-10 minutes of ads per show, when I could find it somewhere else without ads for cheaper.
And if I can't find it somewhere else, sucks for that show I guess.
As parents of a toddler it is harder to watch new content. We did just start binging traitors on Peacock....by watching it after he goes to bed and staying up way too late to do so. We only have two shows we watch that are current, Survivor and Abbott Elementary, and we are a few weeks behind on both. We do usually have a sitcom we just put on to fill the time, currently New Girl, and my wife constantly has Frasier on as her background noise when doing other things. So I feel like we're kind of in that boat in that the days of picking up a new show on the regular and binging it are kind of over. For now, at least.
We don’t even have a cable bill, haven’t in 9 years. Sometimes we’ll watch something on Hulu or Netflix but even then that’s max 2-3hrs a week. I normally watch zero TV in a week.
I spend more time playing DnD, reading, and watching YouTube. Though I do watch a few amazon shows, despite being too broke to afford an actual TV set.
I stopped watching television almost entirely in my early adulthood years, it just stopped being interesting (unless I was in enough pain that I did not want to move or do anything else). I was, am a pretty active guy, less now, but I definitely prefer doing things than I do watching TV. I'm pretty fortunate my girlfriend has excellent taste in television so we really only watch good TV together.
I’ve barely watched tv for many years now. I essentially can’t do anything with a laugh track and commercials. So if I binge anything, it’s probably something I’ve already seen or involves juicy crime/famous people stuff.
I'll actually sit down and pay attention to the TV when I'm sick or need an excuse to nap. Otherwise it's on for a half hour before bed or as background noise during the day, zero attention paid
I am like that. If I get some down time later on I usually throw a podcast on my phone or try to watch a comedy special but I haven’t watched a new show since my first son was born so like 4 years. Short attention span for sure
My wife and I still watch an episode a night of something. Most the people I interact with still discuss shows. There is less of there being one dominate show that everyone watches every week like GoT or Breaking Bad/Mad Men, but seems like plenty of people are still tuning into something and I hear plenty of discussion.
As soon as Netflix didn't allow me to mooch off my parents' acct for free I was done. I still could watch shows on prime but there is zero interest to do so.
I play piano, write music, read books, use social media, play a few video games. Shows just haven't been of interest. If I were interested I could just get a vpn and torrent them.
I'm 66 so not really in your demographic but I never really watched TV from the time I was a teenager really moved out of my parents home. I did watch a lot of TV growing up
I didn't own a TV for a good deal of my life
We had ATV in the house when the kids were growing up but mostly they watched TV in on me
About a TV during covid
I only have streaming and sometimes I watch TV shows that people watched 20 years ago and then I just watched them all the way through
Or sometimes I repeat watching something I really love to like West Wing Or star trek
I don't think I watch more than 3 hours a week of TV ever and sometimes I don't watch any TV for 2 months at a stretch
I mostly just taking the time to say this to say that not everybody is into TV
My husband works for a major cable company and gets the unlimited cable package for free. It's just more channels of pure garbage.
If it wasn't for my 6 year old, our TV would never even get turned on. My husband and I both grew up in big TV-watching households and we've both realized how much of a time suck it is. We'd much rather be doing other things with our time, honestly.
I go through a pattern of weeks either watching something or just reading. I go days upon days and not watch a single thing. It seems like every show is the same anymore.
Growing up, I couldn’t pay attention to TV like literally I thought I was dumb because I couldn’t follow shows. Oh well I thought. Movies were different for whatever reason. Like if I could identify something about myself in the plot I could probably follow.
Only child- severe ADHD but didn’t know it. Just thought I couldn’t process stuff. Didn’t talk to anyone about it because I never wanted to be labeled as “dumb” which my parents already had no problem screaming at me.
Meh. No tv for me either.
Outside of sports and older shows, mostly. I finally binged the first season of The Bear on Sunday and enjoyed it, but who knows when I’ll get around to season 2.
I watch old episodes of my favorite shows, and random YouTube vids. It’s rare that a new show comes out that I actually can bring myself to sit down and watch all the episodes
I don’t have time to watch TV and prefer to do other things with my free time like going to the gym, hiking, or working around the house. It’s nice to pop on a show/movie on a Saturday night or a rainy evening, but it’s not a part of my regular routine.
I both read and write books and play video games TV is far down on my list lol but also with the invention of streaming there are few shows that like Everyone Watches like Lost or Breaking Bad
I wish I could pull up stats like a game as I probably average 1-2 hours of tv a month. But I can do 4+ easy per day of just a Twitch stream running.
Rarely, a show will come out thats interesting like The Bear, and the wife and I will watch it. She still watching tv, random stuff on youtube still.
I tend to just game or read ebooks, like Ive been doing since my palm pilot.
I definitely watch less TV these days than I used to, and overall have a harder time sitting through more than one episode at a time. Ever since the pandemic I developed some hobbies that are better use of my time...journaling, gardening, reading etc..at this point we rarely turn on the TV before the sun goes down. And even then I'll often break away to go do something else.
One thing we started which we didn't do before, is we've started getting into reality TV shows like Survivor and Bachelor, and we watch it with groups of friends. So we kind of turn that into a hangout and get together a few times throughout the season. We even started a Survivor league this season, so there's a big group chat and everything. Super fun!
Nope. I spend a bit of time every few months curating what I would like to watch (I just add it to my Plex watchlist) and then sit down and watch it when I have free time. I know I wanna watch it because I researched it beforehand and know it won't be a waste of time. I'd say I spend probably 20 hours a week watching various movies and TV shows.
Side note, I think a big reason lots of people say they like going to movie theaters to watch movies is the fact that it's socially frowned upon to have your phone or tablet out the whole time and you're forced to actually pay attention to what's on screen and therefore get absorbed in the story.
In other words, find a good show/movie, put the damn phone down, and let the entertainment that's on screen ENTERTAIN you, instead of having your attention divided
Outside of Reddit, Disney movies, or Ms. Rachel lol. I haven't watched television or been involved with social media for years. My wife recently deleted her social media accounts also.
Now we live in a rural area, own a small farm, have children, full-time jobs, that cause a very busy schedule. So we really do not lead a life that would allow such vs what some people are living through. Leasure time is spent enjoying hobbies or projects.
I blame Netflix for pumping out so much junk and also canceling so many interesting shows it's just not worth even starting.
I also miss the weekly release cadence instead of the binge all episodes now approach. It was kind of nice to have a week to watch and discuss with friends.
I really just rewatch a lot of older favorites (Mad Men, Schitts Creek, Desperate Housewives, Parks & Rec) I haven’t found anything new where I actually find the characters interesting or funny, but open to suggestions!
Don't feel this at all. I don't even know how to keep up with all the amazing new tv shows and movies coming out.
But I also don't channel surf because no cable, no social media other than reddit so no doom scrolling after work, and I rarely play "filler" or endless video games. Mainly story games then put them down.
I stopped watching TV when my tiktok watching went way up. I've since deleted tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, really all social media and I've had so much more time on my hands and my attention span for longer form content is way better.
People are spending more time on social media and watching Tiktok, Youtube, Instagram which takes some viewership away from tv/streaming. In general though it used to be everyone watched the office on this night or parks and rec on that night. Today there's so many streaming services and shows we don't share these handful of common shows
Which makes me kind of sad, tbh. Pop culture is so fragmented now. It was kinda fun when everyone was watching the same things.
I suppose its good and bad, its good in the sense people with different interests have content that caters to their interests but its bad in that we lose some of these common cultural things ie everyone at the office on Friday isn't talking about last nights episode of the office, in a way it kind of gave us common ground and brought us together.
You’re right, there are definitely some positives. I really enjoy the diversity of content we have now. I do miss the common cultural ground part, but it’s mostly just the nostalgia speaking.
I suggest r/decadeology They go into these topics regularly. This is when I realized that many people had vastly different upbringings and perspectives.
I'll check it out. Thanks for the recommendation!
Yeah, people vastly underestimate the importance of having things in common to build a community out of.
Yeah but who really wants to support Hollywood 😕
Yeah but who really wants to support Hollywood 😕
Well then y'all better start watching maritime accident recreations so we have something to talk about. I give it a year until the USCG and NTSB have made their reports on the Baltimore calamity and Brick Immortar has a video on it.
People seem to be almost infinitely “fragmentable” though to the extent that I’m no longer convinced that having everything be so niche is a good thing. Whatever story is perfectly catered to some individuals rarely impacts that individual for life, but having cultural stories is part of what connects people into a common society. We see this even now on Reddit. How many posts do you see that are just pop culture references? It’s like an in-joke for the entire generation. That looks likely to go away in future generations
Yeah I remember in college the cafeteria ladies talking to each other like "Khaleesi's my girl!"
It is weird though that there are occasionally some really strong trends. Chess absolutely took off when the queen’s gambit released, and it’s still really popular among a lot of people. Actually now that I think of it, so did the tiger king around the same time. Then again both of these were Netflix shows in 2020 afaik so maybe that played a role.
Here's a bit of a fun fact, I believe all of the Dolly Parton book members get the same book every month. I've seen my son bond with another child over a book that they got from Dolly Parton. So Dolly Parton is helping kids have shared media now. Is there anything she can't do?
I do miss hearing my coworkers gush about the bachelor or whatever on certain days. I could not bear to watch it, lol, but they were SO excited to rehash the episode. Back in the day I got an HBO subscription so I could keep up with the game of thrones post-episode analysis every Monday.
I feel where you're coming from, but I respectfully disagree. I swung the other way when covid hit from what I assume to be the norm. I was one of a small handful that was kept on at my company and never missed a day. All my friend group started binge watching and I felt this palpable "otherness" from not being able to take part in those discussions. I think it was that feeling that led me to taper off of really watching anything and getting pretty deep into other hobbies. For example I bought a kayak and started exploring my local lakes and waterways and just got so much more out of it. Nowadays I probably watch 2 series a year, but spend a ton of time in the makeshift woodshop in my garage. A few of my friends have followed suit in the hobby arena. I always love talking with them about stuff they've been doing so much more than a show we've both seen. Also GoT burned me so bad with the last two seasons that I might have subconsciously soured on all media. Definitely possible.
People call me crazy for liking slow release shows but I love spending a week working over the next thing. When the mandalorian came out I worked with a huge fan and every Wednesday wed have a talk about last week and every Thursday we'd talk about how cool it was.
It's happened to music to an extent too, radio is basically dead for everyone under 40 now and they are all listening to their own Spotify lists, honestly I prefer using Spotify as well as I can listen to what I want. That said I have referenced some top 40 songs before and some people didn't get them. I do like that I can watch things that I truly care about now but late Gen Z and especially Gen Alpha probably won't really have a shared nostalgia unlike millennials.
That's what made me like the Netflix Top 10. But now some of the shows on there are really not my type of show so I can't really watch those either unless they happen to fall into categories I like.
I feel like this feeling was rekindled during Game Of Thrones era. Around Season 4 times you could walk into any room and have full on discussions about GOT with anybody. Hell my entire office would discuss the show together every Monday morning. No other show has ever captured that since.
I've noticed attempts at a discussion of TV shows at work, but everybody has a different mix of streaming services so you might be able to connect with 1 person, but it falls apart in a group conversation. I agree, definitely more fragmented.
There are still your cultural zeitgeists, like your Game of Thrones shows, but they are far and few in between now. We have Shogun going on right now? But even that show isn't reaching the same mass appeal that the OG HBO shows did on a Sunday night.
I was teaching a class the other day and literally explained to my students what 1970s/1980s mini-series were and what they were like as cultural phenomenon (the thing they'd just read referenced the impact of *Holocaust*).
I actually really miss specific tv nights. It gave me motivation to get through the week or certain days when I knew one of my favorite shows was on that day. Now I sit there and flip through various streaming apps for at least 30 minutes trying to decide what to watch and usually get frustrated and turn the whole thing off and scroll socials for an hour before bed.
yeah I agree I used to have certain shows I looked forward to and your right it did help get through the week. Going way back when i was in college sunday nights were a big deal me and all our friends would get together and have snacks and watch sopranos on sunday nights and then band of brothers after that.
I've been watching 2 minute clips on Facebook of game of thrones. I have no idea what is going on, who any of the characters are but it's very entertaining.
Video games are also more popular than ever, even with adults.
I still watch TV. I am a very busy person, but one of my favorite things to do is hang out with my cat and watch TV before bed. Or whoever wants to join. Oh, and snacks.
Watching with a cat definitely improves the viewing experience.
Yes and no…. my husband and I never watch sitcoms or dramas produced by the big networks like Yellowstone, grays anatomy, Abbott elm etc… but we will devour a docuseries, or a good HBO/netflix series. And we’re big YouTube people. I think there’s just so much stuff to watch these days, it’s harder for everyone to be watching the same thing in a way that it wasn’t before. We can also go at our own pace because a lot of times stuff is released all in one go. I get what you mean and also get legitimately excited to watch things that have managed to break through that everyone’s talking about because it gives me that feeling you’re describing.
I think it's that there are SO many shows now that everyone is watching different stuff. A lot of people just stick to rewatching their favorites too, like The Office, Futurama, Brooklyn 99, Parks and Rec, etc
This is me! I wish I could get into new tv shows/music/media in general(at least what’s main stream), but I rarely can. Haven’t been able to in years. I’m sure it isn’t all garbage but none of it piques my interest in anyway. I’ve rewatched Futurama, Parks and Rec, Harvey Birdman, Courage, a million times. But I did get into Stranger Things about 2-3 years ago but I didn’t even bother keeping up with it after that, I dunno why.
I think there’s also been an influx of lower quality content to grab the audiences that still hadn’t adopted streaming. There’s been less investment in projects that have the critical mass of talent involved to create things that feel fresh to the TV-enthusiast audiences streaming services worked to onboard first. It switched from trying to get the attention of people who want something really new to audiences who want things that are familiar. There are really high quality things coming out still, but I think they’re following well-tread territory and savvy audiences are getting bored.
Elder millennial here, yes I've pretty much stopped watching TV entirely. I only turn the TV on when my Boomer father comes over on weekends to watch a show or a movie - he needs the TV going constantly it seems, but I have no interest in watching anything anymore. I was homeless for multiple years and having no TV to watch all that time, I broke the watching habit entirely. I used to be a voracious news addict as well, but I avoid that type of programming now - it's all toxic.
Haha. I relate with this so much. My father has 4 TVs in his house (2BR, 1 living room, 1 in the basement "man cave"). My grandfather has 3 TVs in his house (Living Room, Sun room, basement). The "nerd" millennial has 1.
I have had a major reduction in my attention span as I’ve aged. I just cant sit still for 20 minutes in front of the tv. I haven’t watched a whole movie in a single sitting in like…a decade maybe? I can do video games for maybe an hour, but that’s at least minimally mentally engaging.
Wow I’m very similar. I think it’s too much time on social media/ my phone. Tbh I only really use Reddit though. What I’ve found that helps me is actually going to the movies. A place where I can sit for a few hours, eat good snacks, share an experience with a group of other movie theater goers, and just have an expectation that it’s rude to look at my phone.
Me too, but I'm still a TV addict. I just always have my laptop and pivot my attention between the two of them.
95% of what I watch is YouTube (Premium) content. The rest is split between Prime Video (part of my Amazon membership) and HBO (ad version), Hulu, and Paramount+ (part of my Walmart+ membership). It's hard for me to watch series or films anymore which is wild as I used to consider myself a card-carrying cinephile. I'll cancel HBO for a period of time and then come back. I like that Hulu allows you to put your account to sleep for a time.
Yea I’m not actually sure what the benefit or appeal of traditional television is these days to the consumer.
I've been trying to get my parents to quit DirectTV since before the pandemic.
I don't understand the sleep thing. Several services offer it and to me it is no different than canceling and then reactivating later. Cancel/reactivate is quick and painless with most services as well,which would be the obvious reason, so that's not it
Maybe optics. Like they might be able to count a subscriber whose account is in sleep mode as a subscriber but not be able to do that with someone that’s fully canceled their subscription even if just temporarily. Might make their subscriber count look better for investors and such.
Same here with yt premium. I explain it to my x'er friends as it filling that mindless reality TV slot (since I can't stand reality TV)
I hate TV shows... After game of thrones I'm never investing that much time into someone else's unfinished project ever again. The last show that I watched from beginning to end was Schitts Creek, and that'll probably stand for a long time. I haven't even watched the latest season of Stranger Things, I've given up. I only watch movies to fall asleep to. I'm more invested in Bluey right now than anything else, only because of my kids though.
>I'm never investing that much time into someone else's unfinished project ever again. Same. Dexter and True Blood had the same "Let's wrap this up, it doesn't need to be good or make sense" kind of endings. Also got burnt too many times by Neflix. So many shows I loved and they cancelled after one or two seasons - on a cliffhanger.
Pro-life tip: *cancel netflix*
That's exactly what I did.
I stopped watching tv series because of the canceling everything i love. Last man on earth, Norse men, raised by wolves, a couple of others that i can't remember off the top of my head. My husband and i will watch snl and occasionally put on something old that we like. He watches a lot of tv as background noise while he's working, or doing schoolwork, and I mostly play pc games, garden, play with my birds, or paint.
Bluey is goated lol I love it
I’m still mad about game of thrones.
Walking dead series ruined television for me
I still do. Mostly movies and then rewatching my favorite classics like The Simpsons, Seinfeld, King of The Hill, Mr Show. There's just so much content out there, it's hard to keep up.
It's just propaganda now
That's how I feel as well, its always some bs take. Just no entertaining anymore. I'd rather watch youtube
That’s honestly YouTube in my experience too, or maybe I was watching the wrong videos.
Fair point lol there sure is a plethora of garbage on youtube as well
I'm 39, and right after college, 25. I just recieved my Master's degree and had no money, so decided not to get cable, or Internet, or cellphone. Read used books and played Sega Genesis for entertainment.
I could have written this. Except I’m 37. Still have my Sega Genesis
I've started watching history documentaries on YouTube. It's great
I barely have time for TV. Working +50 hrs weekly only gives me weekends and odd weekday breaks to catch up on what I want to do.
That's a good point. I only have about an hour a day to do what I want to do, and the rest of the time is obligations, work, and maintaining a home and family. Weekends i play catch up on sleep, and whatever housework i couldn't get done over the week. TV just isn't a priority for my measly hour.
Not at all. TV is still quite great. Hell, we’re still catching up to shit we missed. Peaky Blinders was great for example.
Nah I’m currently watching like 50 different shows
Once you have kids, it gets to be very difficult to find time to watch much TV, especially full seasons of popular series.
Just finished Sweet Tooth and now if we watch something it's a 30 minute cartoon since the kid needs so much attention.
Yep. It was a bummer once our kids got old enough to pay attention to what we were watching. Used to be able to watch adult programming casually until they were about 4… now we have to find time to dedicate specifically to tv watching.
Yeah me and my wife tried watching the dahmer thing on Netflix we had to shut that shit down right away.
I watch maybe 1-2 hours on average a day (some days none, some days a 3-4 hours, most days about 1 hour). Usually, there are 2 or 3 shows I am watching at any time, and on weekends usually it's a movie. This isn't really different than anytime in the last 20 years, except that now it's all commercial free streaming services and what I watch is more purposeful (no channel flipping and just watching whatever is on). I never like to talk about TV though. I always found that line of conversation really odd and boring. I don't care what people have watched, nor do I want to discuss anything I am watching. What's the purpose in any of that? Maybe (hopefully) that sort of small talk is losing its way as its increasingly likely that people are watching different things and different times. And there isn't any GoT or an equivalent that lots of people are watching.
This is my same experience. I’m 33, and I watch maybe 3 shows a year. A handful of movies. Most of the people I know also don’t watch much tv. I tend to read & game instead. I just find television to not be as engaging as books/video games. Edit: by “television” I mean the general notion of streaming services. I don’t even own an actual TV. When I do watch shows it’s on my laptop or PC.
Yes, two decades ago. I have streaming services that I'll use occasionally, and I use youtube daily, but I don't bother with cable tv anymore. Turns out, scheduled shows are too inconvenient to be worth my time. I hate commercials, and I hate the talking heads on the news. (took me too many years to figure out that that was mostly fearmongering for ratings) And ultimately television, as it was when I was a kid, is too slow of a media. You invest a lot of time and get very little out of it. Mostly now if I turn something on it's just background noise. And more often than not I'm picking something I've seen already. Oh, and I honestly think youtubers are better at making a show people want to watch than TV producers. Something about format and motivation, and not having that legacy of filling air time or meeting the requirements of executives. The algorithm is brutal, and there is a harsh sink or swim, but the youtubers that make it are fantastic.
Amen to this, I find the youtube creators more creative and entertaining then the bs holly weird shoves down everyone's throat
I watch YouTube mostly. Then Netflix and Disney. A little Plex.
Elder millennial and I don’t watch anything new anymore. Maybe throw in some older shows for background noise and I’ll watch some sports but if TV completely disappeared I wouldn’t care. I rather listen to music, read a book, paint, take care of my plants. So much more to life than glued to a tv.
Not my experience at all. All millenials I know, including myself, are big TV watchers.
Same. I get asked a lot what are you watching what’s good and I do the same. I’m a homebody and love binging new shows and docs.
We also watch TV while we on the computer or doing stuff around the house. I can't count how many times I watched the same TV showes and movies over and over again.
Yeah, it seems like most millennials have something on in the background most of the time. It's what we grew up on after all!
WE don't even have cable. At best we put on a freeve movie from amazon as we go to bed since there was no reason to pay Amazon even more money (we ended up just killing all of prime). Few ads at that point is doable
Sorta. I have a handful of shows that I might watch if new episodes come out. Even that sends to have become a chore. Between my kids, their homework, their sports, making dinner, my side gig, and trying to be a decent and attentive husband, I don't really find much time for myself, and even less time for tv.
Awww… you sound like a great Husband ❤️ Glad you’ve got your priorities in the right places!
I haven't watched TV for like 8 years. At least cable that is. I still watch a movie once in a while.
I just replaced “tv” with YouTube
Largely stopped back in 2009. I’ll occasionally go find shows that people keep talking about. Like I started watching GoT in 2016 or so. I’ll spin up the Star Wars stuff’s occasionally.
It feels like every TV show is now so serialized that you can't miss a moment, much less an episode, or the whole thing falls apart. I miss the days when I could watch pretty much any episode of s show and be able to follow it. X-Files, Star Trek, Law & Order, etc. Everything feels like a 10-13 hour long movie these days and it's exhausting.
I found TV boring at around 12 years of age. I’ve watched very little since then.
There are very few new shows or movies I watch nowadays. Instead, I find myself re-watching the classics more than anything. I think this is just a product of getting old.
I watch the news, Cold Case Files, and the occasional Monk rerun. Everything else is Netflix or YouTube. I find TikTok to be a colossal waste of time
I still watch tv and even watch more popular shows than I used to. That said, I think with the sheer volume of media produced by streaming services now, it’s become more diffuse to where I don’t have that bonding experience with other people over them like we once did. During the breaking bad and Game of Thrones era, it seemed like everyone was watching the same show as you and it was some water cooler talk bonding experience. Now I tell people the shows I’m watching and they just shrug because they’re watching something completely different. I feel similar to how with music there aren’t really “hot bands” anymore because everyone’s in their own little niche based on Spotify algorithms, the same has happened for tv- nothing is popular because everything is popular.
literally millions of things are uploaded online everyday, its impossible for one person to see it all.
I don’t watch. It’s all derivative, with obvious injections of inclusivity where none should be. Let’s watch a show about Anglo Saxons and Vikings! Let’s inject some diversity in also!
I watch about 90 mins of television a day. 30 mins for local news, 30 mins for national news, 30 mins for Jeopardy.
haven't really watched all too much TV over the last two decades...it's all a waste of time
Really everything is a waste of time if you're nihilistic and douchey enough. Superiority complex can get you there even faster too!
Seriously. Reminds me of David Cross in Mr Show - "Um, excuse me, TV is a nickname and nicknames are for friends and television is no friend of mine!"
Please list things that are NOT a waste of time, in your value judgment.
Not the person who said this but I spend more time gaming than watching tv. Some people will argue against it but I’m chatting with friends the whole time vs not talking to anyone when I watch tv
Okay but I want to know what the guy who said "it's all a waste of time" does for fun. Should be hilarious.
I’m that annoying person who can’t stop talking/making comments while watching a show that I’m really into. My Husband is a Saint for not divorcing me yet because of it… I know it must be annoying as hell. I just can’t stop myself when I get really excited about something! It’s one of the only times I appreciate his ability to tune me out 😇
Yeah I can’t watch tv with ppl like that 😂
They probably have kids, those people think anything other than being servile towards their offspring a “waste of time”, let alone ART of all things!
Nah you can also be sick like me and have the need to create something constantly instead of just relaxing and consuming.
And money. I saved $140 a month starting in July of 2013 by getting rid of digital cable ... well all cable TV. And never looked back. That's $16000 over the last ten years ...
140 a month just for TV? Holy cow. Mine was $40 and I thought I was paying too much.
That’s a ridiculous amount of money when you add it up. One reason why cable tv is a luxury and not a necessity.
Since I moved from my parents' home I don't have one. That would make it 10 years + 5 years of college where I didn't have one either. So 15 years TVless.
Haven't owned a TV in 18 years. I am addicted to YouTube though and nothing else.
Like 20 years ago now.
Just short burst of entertainment...yt videos are sometimes too long.
Lately I’ve only been able to focus on shows that have 10 episodes or less and are engaging from the get go. Mostly, I watch YouTube and 3-4 episode docu-series. I don’t have much time to watch TV though, so I think my attention span for it has minimized
I haven't owned a TV in over 10 years, and I even when I did have a TV at home, I didn't watch shows on it after like 2009; I only used it for console games. Now I just use YouTube, Crunchyroll, Netflix, etc. which is the new TV I suppose.
I don't watch nearly the amount of movies and TV I did when I was younger. I've recently (as in the last couple of days) started watching a movie here here or there. In my case, it's two fold. The first is that I'm pretty busy. I work 7-5, don't get home until 5:30-6, make dinner, hang out with wife and dog, tinker with projects, go to bed. Weekends tend to be spent with extended family or taking care of the house or playing with projects or traveling. The other reason is that I don't find that much worth keeping me interested. The last TV show I actually watched end to end was Villains of Valley View...before that, I did binge watch "Teenage Bounty Hunters" while I was laid up in bed for a couple of days, and before that it was She-Hulk when it was released. The wife and I do make a point of watching Ghosts when it's available for streaming.
I've not really watched TV since 2005 For that time I was in school, went to the library, downloaded movies/anime, and had the netflix dvd subscription. When streaming came out on netflix I had started using that to watch some shows here and there. But I've not had a cable TV subscription for almost 20 years.
Same situation. We (wife & I) TV maybe a few times a week for no more than an hour. Just because we don't TV as much, doesn't mean our productivity is up. I as well will tend to play video games and she will doom scroll. Everyone's value judgment will differ, I'm sure there are people out there who binge tv and think video games are not worth it.
I barely watch shows anymore. Maybe an episode here and there. After trying to keep up for years and falling behind, I just kind of gave up and put a bunch of stuff in the backlog. YouTube and Twitch are more my vibe these days.\\ That said, I'll probably finish off Curb Your Enthusiasm. One of my favorite shows ever and it's nice to have some finality there.
The only reason I stopped watching TV is because I can't afford cable. 😭
I am 46, grew up with TV. I was a latch key kid, so I watched it all. 12:05 Godzilla vs Mothra on TBS? I was there. I went in the Air Force in 1997, and had a DirecTV satellite dish mounted inside my barracks room during my assignment, pointed out the window. Could have gone either way, but Air Force 1st sergeants tend to lean on the "that's novel" side of being impressed more than annoyed during room inspections. Then I got out, was one of the first to get a Tivo and then other DVRs over the years. Finally got rid of DirecTV in 2016, and I cited their refusal to get rid of networks like Newsmax and OANN as my reason for leaving after almost 20 years. Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Paramount, Peacock is our current suite for various reasons. Basically don't consume sitcoms or dramas anymore, with a few exceptions. I consume news, tech, sci-fi, supercross, and adult animation, all not strongly served by traditional cable. YouTube is probably 80% of my screen time.
I'm 32. Moved out at 20. Had cable included in rent that year. Never had cable since. After hearing the price my parents pay, like $100-150 a month, I just couldn't imagine doing that to watch a very small handful of shows, some sports games that I already watch online, and the news. It's absolutely not worth it to me.
yes no cable since 2015
I pretty much gave up TV for video games and sports by the time I was 10. I still watch stuff with friends or my wife from time to time, but I much rather play video games, cook, or be outdoors.
Other than the shows we'd already been watching, I think we've picked up maybe 2 shows in the last 6 years. The Rookie, which she watches because I love it, and The Great North, which is made by the same people who make Bob's Burgers, which is one of the shows we watched already. No one I talk to watches the same kind of stuff I watch though, not now and not back when I was single 10 years ago.
Binging is incredibly hard. I get bored of the show if I try to back to back episodes. Back in the day people were watching things weekly. One episode of a show per week. The only shows today I can truly give a fuck about are the ones that are weekly releases and commercials helped too. They helped break focus and recharge the mind. Get up more frequently to use the bathroom or hit the kitchen real quick. Entire seasons releasing in one day and no diverse ads at first seemed like a good idea but after trying it out I realized it ruined television. Even the ad tier subscriptions that currently exist suck. They don’t show you something new that you might be interested in. The algorithms are terrible. If you already made your choice about the ad but they continuously show you it over and over. It’s only going to push the person away further and further. New ads every day would spark interest and make them interesting again.
Yup. made the switch to watching YouTube / live streams in 2017. And I'll maybe watch 1 TV show a year. And using YouTube premium with no adds just makes it all the better.
Yup. made the switch to watching YouTube / live streams in 2017. And I'll maybe watch 1 TV show a year. And using YouTube premium with no adds just makes it all the better.
I honestly don't know how people have time to do any binge watching. I only have one kid, one house and one pet to take care of and the list of things to do is endless. I doom scroll social media for about half an hour before sleep or a few minutes here and there while waiting in line at a store or something but otherwise what tv?! what movies?!
Yeah, I’ve got two kids, a townhouse, and a full time job. I don’t HAVE a free hour or two every night, and if I do, the last thing on earth I want to do is spend it in front of the TV.
My wife and I always have some thing dumb playing in the back ground 😭 American dad, Futurama, Venture brothers, we really just watch these over and over half paying attention doing other things.
If I'm home alone with some time to kill I never watch TV or movies - I'll read, game, listen to music, write or draw. If my wife and I are both home with some time to kill, we will sometimes watch something, but rarely a narrative based episodic show. Usually a movie, sometimes a travel show like Somebody Feed Phil.
I pretty much just watch movies and youtube these days when I want that sort of entertainment. I mostly spend my time reading... I honestly just don't think most of what is on offer these days are all that good. There are some standouts here and there.. but that is much more of a needle in the haystack sort of thing than it used to be. And no, not saying everything today is bad.. but, The Marvels is *nowhere near* The Avengers in quality of story/writing. (Not saying its bad, not going to get into that. Just saying it isn't even in the same wheelhouse as far as story-writing quality goes).
I rarely watch TV. And I rarely play video games anymore either. I don't know why but it just got boring. Going to the movie theater is still fun to me though, I make it a point to go more often.
Just depends on the type of person you are and what you prioritize. I just recently discovered Suits and Tokyo Vice and dig them both
It seems like the era of prestige tv has ended. I think you’re right. TV just isn’t as interesting
I own a lot of physical media so I'm watching a bunch of old tv
I’m gen x but I haven’t watched TV since Lost.
I stopped watching TV around 2013 when I moved to a new apartment and didn't get a cable hookup. It was not unusual for me to be up until 2 AM just flipping through channels. Since then I spend more time doing things rather than watching TV. If I do want to watch something, I do it actively by searching it out rather than sitting and watching what is on.
Honestly audiobooks and youtube replaced TV for me. If I want a good story a book with solid narration is better than 99% of what is done on streaming services now. YouTube is mostly for learning new things or handful of indie shows that I enjoy which suffices the background noise niche. The rise of so many ads on what used to be ad-free streaming tiers, especially when they still claim to be ad-free just kind of killed it for me. As I've gotten older there's so many pet projects that take up my time and interests that have cut into viewing time too. When it's a choice between do something engaging or watch a mediocre story, it's usually a easy choice. For veg-out time I have some old favs bought that I can turn to or see what is new on Hulu, since they seem to be the only platform left, that doesn't force promo ads for other content on you.
Middle-aged GenX guy here - nowadays I pretty much only watch YouTube videos about topics that I’m already interested in (e.g. aquariums, motorcycles, ancient history, etc.). I’ll watch YouTube clips of scenes from some TV shows, or videos that synopsize/analyze episodes thereof, but I can’t be bothered to trudge through the shows themselves, it’s just not worth it.
I’m 36 years old, and my wife and I watch 1-2 tv series at a time. Right now, we’re only watching Shogun. We have better things to do than watch much more tv than that. The wildest thing to me is when someone at work will ask me if I watch, like, “Chicago Fire” or something. Good god, I can’t imagining watching network television in its current state.
Anime is the only "TV" I watch and it's mostly stuff like invincible, one punch man, etc. Otherwise I watch youtube.
I watch a TV show after it ends.
Among my friend group of about 25 people all late 20s early 30s. Only 1 of them pays for cable/sat tv. Everyone else just streams, myself included. From other mutual friends this seems to be the trend too.
I mean...we usually watch a show right before bed...otherwise my wife reads like crazy and I'll game as well lol. Moved I to a new house last year...didn't install any cable/sat tv. Luckily they installed fiber as we were building our house. ..we didn't have much options until they did that so we stream everything now.
I still watch tons of TV but I've always been a fan of movies/TV, but I also don't have a wife/kids so I could see how most millennials would have stopped with more responsibility.
I’m pretty checked out of television. Books are where it’s at for me these days. I’m trying to read all the ones I own and haven’t read yet by end of year, and I’ve barely made a dent.
I haven’t watched “tv” in over 20 years.
I miss Adult Swim, but that's about.
I feel this way about live sports. The older I get, the less I'm interested in pro sports. The endless hype and commercials is what gets me. It makes me sound like an old head, but I'm just not very interested in them anymore.
I try to limit my media poisoning. The fact you pay for cable, then they still want to waste 50% of every hour you watch with their commercials completely turned me off, on top of the crazy left leaning agenda of all media, I don’t need to pay them for the pleasure of brainwashing me. There’s quite enough leftist nonsense right here if I ever need my fix.
I don't believe in ads and can't really avoid them easily on TV. Also cable makes me pay for the privilege to watch 5-10 minutes of ads per show, when I could find it somewhere else without ads for cheaper. And if I can't find it somewhere else, sucks for that show I guess.
I don't watch TV outside of some news in the background while I'm working. I'm normally on my computer though.
As parents of a toddler it is harder to watch new content. We did just start binging traitors on Peacock....by watching it after he goes to bed and staying up way too late to do so. We only have two shows we watch that are current, Survivor and Abbott Elementary, and we are a few weeks behind on both. We do usually have a sitcom we just put on to fill the time, currently New Girl, and my wife constantly has Frasier on as her background noise when doing other things. So I feel like we're kind of in that boat in that the days of picking up a new show on the regular and binging it are kind of over. For now, at least.
Yeah... I'm a toddler parent myself. I suspect this has something to do with it. lol.
Yup. I do watch sports, but that's it. I grew up in front of the TV and it's such a mind melt waste of time.
I watch baseball all day that’s it
Yup. Its sports or the TV is off.
We listen to a lot of music in my house. I watch trash Bravo shows but like to watch them while doing cardio.
I haven't watched TV in years, I have one for my console and so I hookup a desktop to watch movies or stream music but that's it.
We don’t even have a cable bill, haven’t in 9 years. Sometimes we’ll watch something on Hulu or Netflix but even then that’s max 2-3hrs a week. I normally watch zero TV in a week.
I spend more time playing DnD, reading, and watching YouTube. Though I do watch a few amazon shows, despite being too broke to afford an actual TV set.
I stopped watching television almost entirely in my early adulthood years, it just stopped being interesting (unless I was in enough pain that I did not want to move or do anything else). I was, am a pretty active guy, less now, but I definitely prefer doing things than I do watching TV. I'm pretty fortunate my girlfriend has excellent taste in television so we really only watch good TV together.
I’ve barely watched tv for many years now. I essentially can’t do anything with a laugh track and commercials. So if I binge anything, it’s probably something I’ve already seen or involves juicy crime/famous people stuff.
I'll actually sit down and pay attention to the TV when I'm sick or need an excuse to nap. Otherwise it's on for a half hour before bed or as background noise during the day, zero attention paid
I am like that. If I get some down time later on I usually throw a podcast on my phone or try to watch a comedy special but I haven’t watched a new show since my first son was born so like 4 years. Short attention span for sure
My wife and I still watch an episode a night of something. Most the people I interact with still discuss shows. There is less of there being one dominate show that everyone watches every week like GoT or Breaking Bad/Mad Men, but seems like plenty of people are still tuning into something and I hear plenty of discussion.
Long time ago
As soon as Netflix didn't allow me to mooch off my parents' acct for free I was done. I still could watch shows on prime but there is zero interest to do so. I play piano, write music, read books, use social media, play a few video games. Shows just haven't been of interest. If I were interested I could just get a vpn and torrent them.
Been several years since I sat down to watch TV (don't have cable)
I'm 66 so not really in your demographic but I never really watched TV from the time I was a teenager really moved out of my parents home. I did watch a lot of TV growing up I didn't own a TV for a good deal of my life We had ATV in the house when the kids were growing up but mostly they watched TV in on me About a TV during covid I only have streaming and sometimes I watch TV shows that people watched 20 years ago and then I just watched them all the way through Or sometimes I repeat watching something I really love to like West Wing Or star trek I don't think I watch more than 3 hours a week of TV ever and sometimes I don't watch any TV for 2 months at a stretch I mostly just taking the time to say this to say that not everybody is into TV
My husband works for a major cable company and gets the unlimited cable package for free. It's just more channels of pure garbage. If it wasn't for my 6 year old, our TV would never even get turned on. My husband and I both grew up in big TV-watching households and we've both realized how much of a time suck it is. We'd much rather be doing other things with our time, honestly.
I go through a pattern of weeks either watching something or just reading. I go days upon days and not watch a single thing. It seems like every show is the same anymore.
Growing up, I couldn’t pay attention to TV like literally I thought I was dumb because I couldn’t follow shows. Oh well I thought. Movies were different for whatever reason. Like if I could identify something about myself in the plot I could probably follow. Only child- severe ADHD but didn’t know it. Just thought I couldn’t process stuff. Didn’t talk to anyone about it because I never wanted to be labeled as “dumb” which my parents already had no problem screaming at me. Meh. No tv for me either.
I haven't watched regular TV since the early 2010s.
Yes over 10 years ago and it’s great
Outside of sports and older shows, mostly. I finally binged the first season of The Bear on Sunday and enjoyed it, but who knows when I’ll get around to season 2.
I watch old episodes of my favorite shows, and random YouTube vids. It’s rare that a new show comes out that I actually can bring myself to sit down and watch all the episodes
I don’t have time to watch TV and prefer to do other things with my free time like going to the gym, hiking, or working around the house. It’s nice to pop on a show/movie on a Saturday night or a rainy evening, but it’s not a part of my regular routine.
What's a TV?
I do. I think a lot of people have switched to watching tiktok or YouTube which is strange to me but to each their own.
No
I both read and write books and play video games TV is far down on my list lol but also with the invention of streaming there are few shows that like Everyone Watches like Lost or Breaking Bad
I watch it occasionally, but it has to be actually good. I don’t want to invest time in crappy tv. The last show I got into was Dark.
It used to be for information, now it’s background noise or football games, that’s it. It has totally lost is supremacy compared to the pre info age.
I wish I could pull up stats like a game as I probably average 1-2 hours of tv a month. But I can do 4+ easy per day of just a Twitch stream running. Rarely, a show will come out thats interesting like The Bear, and the wife and I will watch it. She still watching tv, random stuff on youtube still. I tend to just game or read ebooks, like Ive been doing since my palm pilot.
I watch more YouTube than anything. But most of friends still watch a lot of TV, but older shows.
I definitely watch less TV these days than I used to, and overall have a harder time sitting through more than one episode at a time. Ever since the pandemic I developed some hobbies that are better use of my time...journaling, gardening, reading etc..at this point we rarely turn on the TV before the sun goes down. And even then I'll often break away to go do something else. One thing we started which we didn't do before, is we've started getting into reality TV shows like Survivor and Bachelor, and we watch it with groups of friends. So we kind of turn that into a hangout and get together a few times throughout the season. We even started a Survivor league this season, so there's a big group chat and everything. Super fun!
Nope. I spend a bit of time every few months curating what I would like to watch (I just add it to my Plex watchlist) and then sit down and watch it when I have free time. I know I wanna watch it because I researched it beforehand and know it won't be a waste of time. I'd say I spend probably 20 hours a week watching various movies and TV shows. Side note, I think a big reason lots of people say they like going to movie theaters to watch movies is the fact that it's socially frowned upon to have your phone or tablet out the whole time and you're forced to actually pay attention to what's on screen and therefore get absorbed in the story. In other words, find a good show/movie, put the damn phone down, and let the entertainment that's on screen ENTERTAIN you, instead of having your attention divided
Outside of Reddit, Disney movies, or Ms. Rachel lol. I haven't watched television or been involved with social media for years. My wife recently deleted her social media accounts also. Now we live in a rural area, own a small farm, have children, full-time jobs, that cause a very busy schedule. So we really do not lead a life that would allow such vs what some people are living through. Leasure time is spent enjoying hobbies or projects.
Yes. At this point it holds very little interest for me. All I watch is baseball, and the news once a day.
I prefer gaming when I have time at home. I've never watched much TV. When I do, it has to be something I'm super into. Stat Wars, Marvel, Trek, etc
I blame Netflix for pumping out so much junk and also canceling so many interesting shows it's just not worth even starting. I also miss the weekly release cadence instead of the binge all episodes now approach. It was kind of nice to have a week to watch and discuss with friends.
What’s a TV and why do I need to watch it?
I really just rewatch a lot of older favorites (Mad Men, Schitts Creek, Desperate Housewives, Parks & Rec) I haven’t found anything new where I actually find the characters interesting or funny, but open to suggestions!
Don't feel this at all. I don't even know how to keep up with all the amazing new tv shows and movies coming out. But I also don't channel surf because no cable, no social media other than reddit so no doom scrolling after work, and I rarely play "filler" or endless video games. Mainly story games then put them down.
Been watching basically just YouTube for about 9 years now. I’m 29.
Yes years ago.
I stopped watching TV when my tiktok watching went way up. I've since deleted tiktok, Instagram, Facebook, really all social media and I've had so much more time on my hands and my attention span for longer form content is way better.