A teenage girl looks at her phone with the TV on in the background. Variety Editor Adah Hamman stressed the importance of learning to engage with media that challenges and inspires its viewers. “In an age where attention is the ultimate currency, the solution lies not in mindlessly consuming whatever is placed in front of viewers but in choosing content that challenges, connects and inspires,” Hamman wrote. Illustration by Sylvia Robinson
Executives within the film industry have been pushing the “quantity over quality” narrative since the rise of streaming services.
In 1971, a psychologist and economist Herbert A. Simon coined a new term: “attention economy” in which brands treat consumers’ attention as a rare commodity and attempt to capitalize on it as best they can.
This shift not only influences marketing strategies but also has negative implications for those involved with the film industry, including producers, screenwriters and even those watching at home
When streaming platform Netflix reinvented the way people consume media with on demand television, dozens of production companies like Hulu, HBO and Disney began launching streaming services, hoping that they too, could surf the on-demand media and seize the attention of viewers everywhere.
However, there was a problem: these companies weren’t making enough money to cover the cost of the media they were producing.
So, they found a solution.
“If you go on Netflix, you’re going to see a lot of what’s called garbage TV. It’s where you attach one famous person that people know, and you have some sort of vague premise that isn’t particularly specific or interesting, and at the end of that season, if people hate it, (you) stop making it,” New Orleans and Los Angeles-based writer and director Brett Felty said. “(Streaming services) don’t have to make things that we like. They just have to make things that we will watch.”
But why should anyone care? As long as it’s something to watch, right?
Wrong. The media we consume matters. According to an article published in the New York Times, “a wave of new social science research shows that the quality of shows can influence us in important ways, shaping our thinking and political preferences, even affecting our cognitive ability.”
One should want to consume higher-quality content— content that makes them feel something, that allows them to connect with other people and makes them question the things around them.
Coinciding with the rise of this trend, another phenomenon has also arisen: the concept of the “second screen,” which, according to the Oxford Learning Dictionaries, refers to a “mobile device used while watching television, especially to access additional content or apps.”
Short-from content available on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram also contributes to shortening people’s attention spans worldwide.
One should want to consume higher-quality content— content that makes them feel something, that allows them to connect with other people and makes them question the things around them. Entertainment shouldn’t just be whatever passes the time.
In an age where attention is the ultimate currency, the solution lies not in mindlessly consuming whatever is placed in front of viewers but in choosing content that challenges, connects and inspires.
