drowning in entertainment: the age of distraction
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- Опубліковано 21 лис 2024
- in our visual-audio society, our main method of communication are images and videos. this has greatly affected our attention span, the purpose of news, and how we interact with information and knowledge. changing the form of a medium changes everything.
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SOURCES:
"Neil Postman Are We Amusing Ourselves to Death Part I, Dec. 1985." • Neil Postman Are We Am...
"Nicholas Carr: The Shallows - What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains." • Nicholas Carr: The Sha...
Odell, Jenny. 2019. "The Case for Nothing." In How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy.
Postman, Neil. 1985. Amusing Ourselves to Death.
Postman, Neil. 1998. "Five Things We Need to Know About Technological Change."
Postman, Neil. 1990. "Informing Ourselves to Death."
MUSIC:
Yury Vesnyak - Jazz Waltz 'Charm'
Leonid Gurevich - Melancholy (2 Pianos, 6 Hands)
Book Bag - E's Jammy Jams
Isaac Albéniz - Barcarola, Op.23
Chopin - Nocturne Op.48 No.1 in C Minor (Ashkenazy)
Sergei Bortkiewicz - Nocturne (Diana), Op.24
Jake Chudnow - Half A Dozen Bullets
tags: digital age, information age, age of information, digital era, tiktok addiction, age of distraction, attention span declincing tiktok, social media, how tiktok ruins your brain, algorithm, entertainment culture, social commentary, internet analysis, video essay, analysis video, chronically online, terminally online, dopamine detox, philosophy, movie film tv show, tiktok, shanspeare, jordan theresa, cj the x, tiffany ferg, alice cappelle, contrapoints, philosophy tube, madisyn brown, chad chad, sisyphus 55, tara mooknee,
21:25 wow what a hypocrite get off youtube
Damn that's crazy...
Why did you click read more?
Sadly we all live in late stage runaway capitalism. Gotta hustle or... die? Pretty sure it's die...... Pretty sure dying is what happens when you no more money...
The best example of this is corecore, which explains perfectly how people are just tired of todays society and tired of following the same path over and over again every day
@olisunvia Have you heard of Metaphysical Milkshake hosted by Rainn Wilson and Reza Aslan? If you haven’t I think you’ll like it.
lot's of inconsistencies and assumptions and bad faith interpretation but i agree with the general message. We simply have to adapt. Reclaim the internet from exploitative corporations and educate the masses on media literacy.
I just now realized how absolutely boring life is without meaningful social interactions. We seek distractions to avoid going mad
100%
We're hard wired to feel our best through deep and meaningful social connection
sadly that well is drying up nowadays
interesting that some would switch your statement around
maybe that's the diff between intro/extrovert
I'm absolutely fine without social interactions. But even though I say that, my lonely ass will come back to bite me in the future.
@@smallcatgirl you’re still socializing through the internet. Thats just more comfortable for you because you dont feel confident in your own skin. Not an insult, many people feel this way especially nowadays
What's crazy is how quickly you can get your attention span back if you try and cultivate it. Not only can you weed your garden by removing short form content, dopamine rush social media from your life, but meditating, exercise, reading, and long walks without music or podcasts, when I'm consistent, put me into a zen level of focus. Conversations become excellent because people love how focused I am on what they're saying, because I really am listening to them intently. When I find someone who can do the same back, it's amazing.
fr me too, I love finding other persons who can talk with me for hours about different topics about our daily lives and philosophy cuz we're both intently focused on the conversation. I think it's honestly the best form of being able to learn from others and have those meaningful moments that brings people closer. It's kind of a shame that our current media forms and content are causing us to value entertainment over important things that are actually relevant to our lives, and that talking about things that may feel boring to others somehow makes it not worthy of discussion.
Boooooring
@@simonshura9144 🤡
sorry got no time to read all of this, but you wrote something about weed so take my like.
How long did it took for you
I always feel self-conscious whenever I sit on a park bench without a phone or a book. It feels like passers-by must think I'm staring at them, because any "normal" person would be doing something instead of just sitting. This video helped me put that thought in focus. I think the idea that we all require constant entertainment has become a social norm - it feels uncomfortable to be seen going against it.
yea and you suddenly look and feel like the odd one out even though all you want to do is talk to the people around you yet they're too busy on their phones
@@crazymadstriker766 I've been surprised how receptive most people are to a smile and a hello, maybe even a compliment. It's unexpected, but nice to have a genuine interaction.
@@saintallison Maybe it just depends on the person, I tried with some of the people sitting next to me in one of my classes, maybe 1 sometimes talks about film when I start a convo but I tried with the other 2 and it's just small talk then back to phone again
@@saintallison It's easy to have genuine interactions with friends but strangers is much more difficult
Haha
I use to see people staring at their phone and feel sorry for them that they were missing out on so much around them...
Honestly I have completly abandoned short length content and instead started to practice meditation whenever I have nothing left to do, I highly recommend!
yes me too :)
Amazing!
Same my mental health is so much better and I’m getting smarter if u can call it that idk I like to get into things not just hear the title
That's a really good decision of yours I really lack consistency any tips for that
Mindfulness and thankfulness are such important things, and so many people lack of these - meditation and journaling or doing a diary are sooo great
Being ok with boredom is truly a superpower nowadays
can one really be okay with boredom tho?... i really try my hardest to stay away from the source of distractions but i just can not
@@aylinarkan199 last summer one day all i did was stare at a little rock i found in the garden, just sitting were with my thoughts, humming songs and remembering stuff. Just sit and do nothing is something you have to learn these days, but older generations still have this built-in
@@deur its harder to do it when internet is always in reach and you’re locked up in a place but when outside i think it just feels different not to anything and just be
Cant agree more, its way harder than you have stable internet connection. Its like breathing under water, you have to make a choice (unlike in this analogy, conscious) and rise your head
To the people who grew up in chaos, peace is easily mistaken for boredom
I’ve gotten rid of all social media except UA-cam. I don’t regret it. It’s been 2 years. I still watch too much UA-cam, it’s hard to get rid of it for me but I think I would be better off in life without it at this point
Same here; facedbook instagram and reddit were super easy to drop, but I find some UA-cam content so enriching life-changing. It also prevents me from being totally unable to converse with the zoomers in my life. I wonder what could replace it?
Same
Yeah, youtube is so hard to shake though... I always find myself wanting to watch just one more video
yeah it is very difficult to completely ban it from my internet or devices
imo it's more powerful to teach yourself self control and personally limit yourself to social media then to delete it. i think social media at times is very helpful and educating
The absolute guilt I felt, when I struggled to sit through this video due to the points she made brilliantly. How cursed we are.
What is a cursed world without its blessing existence? What is perfect without the imperfect? Exacto.
Maybe it's just a boring video ??
@@Nthdegree2 dumb & wrong
@@TerenceGrier boring video?? how entertaining is it supposed to be?! this is exactly what she’s talking about in this video lmao, we should be able to sit through and listen to what she has to say, but people struggle with it bcs of the constant need to feel stimulated/hit with enough dopamine
@@sappychloe
hard disagree. If a video is boring/ not entertaining / not worth my time.
Why should anyone feel obligated to watch it ?
Can a video be both entertaining and informational?
Yes!
This is the hallmark for both great UA-camrs and great professors.
"Americans remember the last 24 hours more than they remember the last 60 years." That's the thought that will pop into my head when I think of oliSUNvia from now on.
Omg i love your vids
@@TinyAsianChild omg samee
The fact that I (born in the 2000's) would watch a 30 minute youtube video when I was younger and wouldn't get bored but now a 5 min tiktok feels like a eternity makes me realize how I am also getting stuck in this short videos addiction
Damn. it's sad that i can relate to you...
You reminded/opened my eyes:
- How the world has changed
- How media has changed
- How I have changed for consuming too much of the media
- How my attention span has changed
Thank you. This educational video hits the mark!!!
Definitely. I liked this vid as well (with a few exceptions), and your summary is fantastic ^_^
Being bored in an universe this weird is unacceptable
------- exurb1a
What do y’all think is the scenario with such videos; in context with copyright issues if most of the ideas are reflections of the Neil postman content she’s consumed? 🤔
Sure she’s adding this day and age’s relevancy but is that enough to give her the credit of doing these things like eye opening?
@@chandrikadaswani3696all ideas are accumulations of others’ previous ideas, no? theres no problem with adapting someone elses ideas slightly if its still helping people. its also hard to say that she only got this information from 1 specific person or creator when so many talk about this. i understand your point but im still grateful for this presentation of accumulated information!
same!! ive been trying to stay off social media more because of video essays like these
I think this is related to the 'shower thoughts' phenomenon, "all my best thoughts come to me in the shower" -- this might be the only part your day when you are forced to just be alone with your thoughts. As evidence, I've met some people who always listen to music when showering, which seems like too much work to me for 5 minutes or so. I also tend to have some good ideas when trying to fall asleep, and I imagine others do too, since entertainment is counterproductive there :).
I think this is really true! I remember watching a TikTok (lol) about how constantly listening to music is basically a distraction to our minds and boredom. I’ve always listened to music on my way to school/work, but now I try to turn it off sometimes and let my mind wander. It makes me feel like I’m giving my own brain time to speak instead of constantly giving it art/media to process.
@@whathefuckisthisoh my god I literally had an enlightenment just now lmaooo (I listen to music almost 24/7 [85k mins on Spotify🫠])
Music helps me think and concentrate, whiçh is why I listen to music in the shower
Honestly. My best thoughts tend to come during long lonely drives - coincidentally the only time I cannot physically access my phone to scroll - and especially when I turn off the music/news to let my brain ramble.
I agree
As a 23 year old, my screen time on my phone is about 1 hour, the time I spend mostly is cooking my own 3 meals of the day and even dessert. Playing with my dog and taking him for walks, I grew up poor so I didn't get a phone till I was 18 and honestly I hate having a phone
I prefer to read, draw and just take aimless walks.
My job is music production, while I get away from the phone when I'm making music, it must be shared with others to get some income.
The talk of nostalgia is so real; I have friends talk about how nice it was when they were kids and how they didn’t have to worry about much, no taxes, etc. And I get those feelings too, but I also remember crying over homework, feeling weak and useless, and being cringe. When I mention this my friends can all relate, but for some reason it’s not the first thing they think of when thinking back on themselves.
We are holding on to the part of our younger selves that use to be able to love life. Human brains crave familiarity. They will always choose a familiar pain over a new scarier one. So we tend to run backwards rather than forward when we dont know what else to do
Same, I have to remind myself everytime I get nostalgic for that stuff
She undercut herself with this very poor argument here. Gen Z is not the first generation to experience nostalgia, nor will it be the last. It has nothing to do with media and attention span, it's a natural reaction to aging and the passage of time. Entirely irrelevant to the topic being discussed.
^^ I agree, I guess to younger viewers “nostalgia” is anytime after 2016 … but to anyone like me (31) nostalgic stuff is way back in the 90s … and even though I was born in 1992… nostalgic movies etc are from the 80s… it actually goes to show how even the “Nostalgic” stuff is an even shorter time ago, akin to their attention spans. I mean, when she said 2013, I was like what? That’s not long enough ago at all to be nostalgic about. Weird times we live in.
I assume that when it comes to implicit social rules, it’s often treated as a burden to the ‘fun theatre’ of talking to mention your problems, and that it’s best to keep shut about it because the point of talking with friends and family is to have fun. So everyone is reluctant to mention it to not burden anyone else.
This was my perspective, but I can’t say how many people feel the same way.
I feel fortunate that a handful of people in my life have been more open to tugging at the difficulties with sincere dialogue, but it’s much more common for me to find people I don’t know well enough to go beyond the pure entertainment/drama layer of dialogue which is not to say anything about those people, just that dialogue is so uncertain sometimes that false fronts feel like my only option based on certain assumptions and insecurities I have about those implicit rules of talking to others.
Lately it really does feel like life is just one big distraction
and it's people falling for those distractions. i will always blame the people
It is. That's why everyone is depressed. There's very little fulfillment in the modern Western world. People living in the 3rd world are much happier than we are, and they live a life that has very little distraction.
@@nicoledoubleyou I can't really agree with this part about the third world living happier, I can't speak from every third world country but coming from one I can say we tend to seek even more distraction in the midst of harder times having to battle even more political corruption, higher crime rates and lack of resources. From a latin american perspective we tend to find the entertainment in misery because what else are you gonna do to keep yourself ahead? In one way or another social media affects all of us with different processes.
@@seelko01 fax
@@seelko01 what she said
The worst part is that, over the years, I’ve worked hard to unfollow as many useless accounts as possible so that I naturally check social media less. Then came tik tok and every other social media wanted to copy them so now we are force fed stuff we don’t even want (yt shorts, ig reels, Twitter for you). I wish they just let us see what we want to see.
This wont help every app but on my laptop I use the expiation called unhook for UA-cam you can choose what to get rid of but it makes it available to get rid of recommendations shorts or comments etc it’s very good :)
the choice to not use them is still yours
Delete em dawg
@@noahwarren9462it is not that easy, usually I am the first to say that we ALWAYS have the choice, but here you are fighting agains’t psychologist, people that study humans reactions that WANT you to become addicted. It releases dopamine in your system constantly. I WANT to stop, I am taking actions but again, it is not that easy. And deleting those apps would have repercussion on my social life, love life, school life…
@@iCookCrystalMeth I know, I wanted to choose moderation but these companies are giving me no choice now.
Your speaking skills, witty composition, and substantive ideas are inspiring. You're doing amazing, congratulations on a million subscribers!
this really opened my eyes. i realized entertainment is always there. when i’m eating i watch a movie or youtube. when i’m exercising i listen to music or a podcast. when i’m walking or biking somewhere i listen to music or a podcast. sometimes i choose not to, but that’s not often. when i’m going to sleep, i watch youtube or scroll instagram. when i wake up it’s usually the same thing.. it actually makes me sad, and no wonder i’m just freaking tired sometimes. sometimes i’m on the train or tram/subway it kinda shocks me how everyone is on their phone, it seems like it has become the new standard and i don’t want to but i also hate the feeling of being left out. i recognize it with so many of my friends and peers that they wanna stop and break out of it as well, but don’t really know how. i feel like at a certain point we’ll just hit a breaking point or something
This!...
Yeah, and believe it or not, entertainment is DRAINING. you may not notice it, but you're probably more tired after watching a youtube video then if yu had actually spent that time in your own mental space.
@@ahmedhaaqilrifky3531 i agree 100%. these days i've been trying to be more mindful of how i spent my energy, trying to moderate it
@@ahmedhaaqilrifky3531 Very well said. Sometimes after a day of UA-cam I feel so tired like I've done a day of work, and I haven't actually done anything. But a day of constructive work can actually feel rejuvenating!
exactly. sometimes i'll be sitting in a public place and look around and it will feel like the people around me are living in a completely different world. the lack of people present with their surroundings is very very sad. something has to change soon, feels like we're getting to a point where things are just so stagnant
The most horrible thing with it all is that social media makes you think you can't live without it. The FOMO is exagerrated bc instagram wants you to believe that you'll miss an important dm or info if you uninstall it. Also, it is SO necessarry for me to practice not being on my phone in awkward or waiting moments... but i promise its 100% worth it, life without distraction and instead, meaningful content (movies, books) is totally different. It makes you actually aware of whats going on around you, of your feelings and your own person.
awkward moments are actually make me feel good, reminds me that we just human not a robot. we think we need to talk and express perfectly like siri does but honestly i want the complete opposite of that, i think we all do.
I'm not even old, but I keep telling people the internet has done more bad than good and that life was better without it, it is ruining attention spans, peoples brains, and making people crazy, there's so many terrible takes that are spreading now that wouldn't even be thought of in the past, and a lot of the time people encourage the craziness, and then people think I'm some sort of boomer
we are not built for any of this, and it's all so new still, it will only get worse as time goes on, a solution must be done quick
let me add one more thing, corporations control the internet and they are intentionally getting people addicted to milk them, it will keep going and going until it's not possible to get people any more addicted
@@matthewvelasquez5630what a great way to look at it, I will definitely have this mindset going forward
this is so true, I've been fighting with instagram for so long, but I don't want to delete it because I feel like I'll miss out connecting with my distant friends and other people that i kinda know. Ps: I have 3 friends that I actually care abt, the rest I don't even talk to, and it's not really important to know if they got in a different school, their relationship status, and random details abt their life. Not to mention why do I feel like I NEED to post things abt my life, even though i know that the people who see it, don't even care about me or how i look or my decisions. This video made me realize i should for sure delete instagram lol
I'm at a cottage rn in the middle of nowhere in Lapland and yesterday I was taking a walk in the warm night sun, the snow was shining beautifully and it was so quiet, I could only hear my own steps. Absolute bliss to be with zero distractions. The constant buzz just dissipated at that moment. Like damn nature is so beautiful and relaxing.
If it was absolute bliss, why are you back on UA-cam then? 😂
@@katielowen I usually watch a few videos or listen to podcasts before going to sleep, I'm not pass that yet lol 🙇 still, bliss!
@@hanac5586 ah ok! I feel you on that for sure!😂
thank you for sharing your beautiful experience 🙏🏼
@@katielowen it's unrealistic to cut out social media completely. taking care of yourself and being in nature without any screens is important but it's not bad to be on your electronics as long as you're being mindful of how much time you're actually spending on them.
your point about being able to read a book for hours as a kids, only to struggle later in life really resonated with me. The room would go dark as I read Harry Potter when I was 10/11 and now i struggle to get to the 1 hour mark, as a post-grad!!!
I refuse to use Tik Tok and it saddens me to see UA-cam embrace that format more and more. Great work here! Keep it up. 👍
Same
same here I rather get assaaulted by Zeus than use that app in a life
time
@@elvirak8846hAHAHHAH
That's an interesting way to say it but I agree lmao
@@elvirak8846assaulted by Zeus 😂😂😂😂😂
FYI: You can turn off YT shorts with Revanced
The more "connected" we get, the more disconnected we become. Also, the people who are saying that your videos are boring are the type of people who you are talking about that put value into entertainment more than should be. Don't let the zombies and clones hinder you from saying what you want to say. Real people will listen.
What you have said is true, but sadly those real poeple you mentioned are not many left
@@nemeshh3446 Agreed.
The last part doesn't sit right by me, read as dehumanizing and othering desu.
It probably stems from us not viewing people as people anymore but rather as numbers and identities. We are reduced to this because the number of likes and comments on a video, for example, is made to be more relevant than the content of one of those many comments.
No one is trying to connect you. They’re seeking to monetize discourse and engagement with the least amount of context possible. The more context they provide, the more an audience can critically analyze it for truth. The posters of this “information” don’t care about truth or enlightenment. Only engagement.
I paused this video multiple times to pause and ponder so that I wasn't passively consuming. I try to restrict my diet of video/audio information in digestible amounts and try to monitor the noise consumed per week because if you live on the internet, you cant avoid it. You can minimise it,
Age of white noise indeed
Recently i got an E-ink phone. You better believe im downloading books & manga, podcasts & music.
Im done being manipulated by the data.
This is actually an amazing idea thanks for sharing!
Another way to look at this is your adhd doesn’t even allow you to watch this video back to back.
@@wombat7961 what's an e-ink phone?
I had to pause the video and stare at the wall for a second after the metaphor part (4:03) becuase I've never heard media explained like that. "Media is a metaphor for communication, but it's so pervasive in our lives that we often mistake media as the thing that's being communicated", that's one of the most perspective shifting things I've ever heard. Gotta go reevaluate how I've consumed information my entire life now
help im trying so hard to understand this - could u elaborate on the last sentence? 🥹
like media represents communication, they tell us information, but because we get so much information, theres too much information to process, that we just believe dat wat media is communicating is the ‘truth’? we no longer have time/brain capasity (lol) to question things we are being informed about, because there is too much of it?
is that what the sentence means? 🙈
or does it mean media has become the way we recieve information, because its so pushed onto us, that we believe this is the correct way of getting true information?
im feeling super silly for my brain not understanding this 🙈
@@makibirdd I believe that the initial sentence/quote is saying that originally, media started as a method to pass along information and communicate it, but the media we consume to gather our information has become so warped and turned into a means of entertainment rather than actual information.
Media will often spread lies, exaggerate, and fearmonger; any word similar to those you can think of could also fit. Many people take the information the media puts out as the truth, and nothing but the truth, but most of the time it has been adjusted to be more entertaining and skew the truth as a result.
TL;DR: The media does not tell the truth most of the time, and because we take it at face value, we often mistake what the media is telling us - which we know isn't always the full truth - as the truth, and therefore we aren't receiving the correct information.
It’s why your super liberal
@@jacksinvestments9105 made me think more of Fox News and how it influences people who use it as their only news outlet
@@makibirdd English is my second language but the way I thought about it is this way. Medium is a way we can communicate for example in art medium can be audio, video, pictures etc... but since it is a medium and not the thing it tries to communicate a lot of information gets lost during the process of conversion to said medium. Therefore you won't get original idea but thing of reduced information that is altered by the way presenter shows you and end up with something that doesn't hold weight of the original idea that is communicated.
Media can shape our understanding of the world and influence our behavior. It's important to be mindful of the ways in which we consume and interact with media. Great video.
why is this from 1 day ago
@@hykhdl bot
@@hykhdl maybe a patreon benefit?
@@hykhdl it was probably a patreon video
Same. YT and IG, that's all I have and it's where I get 99% of my news
I deleted Instagram and tiktok off my phone in the past year and oh my gosh it's been incredible to see how much my attention span has increased (and how it compares to my friends who still use these apps). I also feel like I've partially only been able to step away because I'm only working part time and not constantly exhausted, as it requires so much actual willpower to step away from this addictive form of entertainment. When my husband comes home from his three full time jobs he will jump right on his phone for what he calls "brain candy", because he doesn't have the mental energy for anything more involved than short form scrolling, and that's become his main source of entertainment and unwinding. I wonder how much of this is driven by things like inflation, increased pressure to work, increased cost of living, lower wages etc, that drive people into a state of exhaustion where they seek out such content because it's a nice break from the "real world"?
Love the questions you ask at the end, makes me think too
Ahhh the wonderful results of late stage capitalism /s
Why is he working full time x3 while you get part time x1
@@mrtheluckybucket Pretty intrusive question to ask, you don’t know their situation.
3 full time jobs ? wouldn't 8 hours per working day constitute a full time job conventionally ? so 3*8=24 , he is working 24hrs a day?
something else to note is that (in my experience) content that i see online almost becomes my perception of my own life. i was watching a video the other day about how people were nostalgic for the early 2010s and what came along with it like the kinds of movies and trends of that time; and it made me sad- but then i remembered that i didn’t even enjoy my life back then that much and wasn’t even aware of any sort of trends or pop culture so I shouldn’t even relate to the content being released. very often people online say things like “i’ve never had an original experience” and it think it’s because we are all amalgamating our lives into one mainstream experience of mass relatability which isn’t accurate to how most of us lived our lives before the explosion of short form content as it is today
this is so true, you described the feeling of mass relatability really well
Now this is epic! Literally me fr fr
nostalgia content ive always seen as brainwashing mood downers. I used to consume a lot of that content before and it only made my mental health worse before I realized how bad it was to be taking in such harmful content
oh gosh i needed this reminder so badly. i have been feeling rather sad at certain posts that are irrelevant to me all because i am no experiencing that life. it makes me feel jealous of those around me who have those aspects in their life, even if i do not want them. for example, my university colleagues have created a very fun and adventurous friend group together and they behave in the "fun" ways people on tik tok and movies behave. Mind you, i do not like their jokes, or their lifestyle, but i am made to believe that i do due to what i often consume online. it is a real issue
@@sin3358 that simply hints that you aren't enjoying your own life. It's a jealousy that comes from watching others have something you want and don't have, even if the way they get those feelings doesn't appeal to you.
Our world is sick too death with this problem, and you're in the extreme minority if you don't feel this at some point.
I Watch a lot of vidéo essays, and to be entirely honest this is one of the best I’ve watched. You got to the point of an important issue using quotes, videos, articles, and your own experience. The timing was well done, and the separated parts helped to keep it on track.
Also some people said it was boring, but truly this was one of the funniest video essays I’ve found that wasn’t over crowded with jokes. Keep up the amazing work, this was just lovely!! :]
Can you pls tell me other video essays or essayist you watch as well?
It’s also jarring to go from concluding a serious discussion to a typical lighthearted UA-cam outro. I just realized that the shift also distracts from my thoughts lingering and pondering about the topic for myself. It feels like the outro isn’t just a closing for the video, but a closing for the discussion because she’s not being serious anymore (not to be criticism of Olivia). It mirrors the music that would play at the end of the news channels she mentions. I just found that interesting.
very true!
even watching the ad just felt so awkward
@@sinqobilebandile6558 OLIVIAL THE SELLOUT😹😹
Funnily enough, my car shut off the moment she began the patreon readout and I began reading your comment 😂
And then the ads after the video ends, it both takes your mind off and makes you try to quickly move to the next thing so you don't have to sit through a bs mobile game..
I just realised i cant watch a youtube video without reading comments.
As soon as i open a random video i run to the comment section.i dont even listen to the video.
We are becoming more and more worried abt others opinion these days.
Same😢
ME RN😭😭😭
Damn..
True!!
This is literally me… it’s so unfortunate
Wanna know something funny? I watched this video and it really got to me and i started thinking about what i should do to get out of this cycle, and the gears were turning in my head and i felt very much in the moment, and then i opened insta and started scrolling again. Did so for 4 hours, and then i was gonna get something to eat before i thought about this again. And now im not just worried but im scared not just for knowledge and information that i do adore, but for myself, what will become of me now? i have had so many dreams and goals for so many years but it feels like my entire life is a blur of me holding my phone, my tablet, my laptop, watching tv, playing games. I don't remember what it feels like to live a life and i don't remember ever having one, im just a blur of everything I've consumed. I'm like gluttony from full metal alchemist, see that even how i talk and think is the stories ive seen. I didn't realize it but im one of the people that "need stories like oxygen" at this point they don't have to be true or right or even good, idek why i wrote this maybe because i probably wont even be in the moment ever again to make this confession to someone i know or even someone at all. I can just let sit here for someone else, a stranger, to consume.
i think it’s so crazy to read someone’s deepest thoughts, worries, personal anxieties like I don’t understand that other people have lives that experience the same things as i do. i feel kinda out of touch with the world atm and just people in general. what i wanted to comment on was that i know you posted this comment 3 weeks ago, and you’re probably feeling better now, but your comment really got to me!! i’ve been feeling this way for years, feeling as though theres somethings wrong with me, like i’m not in control and that i need to do something in order to feel happy and alive again. granted it was for a different reason, but your comment really resonated with younger me. i want you to know that it’s not your fault you ended up in this cycle and that you’re still on a journey to finding happiness and fulfilment in life. your life isn’t ruined because some of your life was taken up by social media’s trap. and you’re also not alone in this ❤️ so many people are in your (and mine too tbh lol) situation. something i’ve been think about lately is how so many people put blame and alienate others as if they aren’t humans as well. we’re all human beings with intricate and complex lives that’re experiencing the same things as one another. you are most definitely not alone. i forget this sometimes and i need to remind myself a lot.
please don’t be scared ❤️ remember there’re billions of people out there going through the same situation, it’s all part of the journey. your life is still to be lead by you!! you can still make changes in your life :) if you feel as though you haven’t been living lately, why don’t you try and have a bit of a device detox, go outside, talk to your family and friends, start a new hobby (which involves a physical activity perhaps, like drawing or cooking or writing). life is full of so many opportunities and fun and life and happiness, it pains me to read that you’re going though the unfortunate pain that i think a lot of people in this age are going through atm. idk if this even helped and there’s a part of me that wanted to write this for myself aswell to reinforce it in my own head lol, but the world isn’t a dystopia. life is what you make it :)
I am writing this only for you please read okay , I will be happy if you I will be somehow able to help you a little bit.
Okay ,same thing was doing with me , now I am free from social media and the other unwanted stuff. I am going to write this in 3 para -
first (problem )
Second (solution )
Third (motivation, procrastination ,overthinking)
See ,if you find insta and other social media time waste and eating your life , you have to deactivate and uninstall it. It doesn't matter what others will think or your acc will get destroy and you have to make a new one . the most important is your control in life ,feeling happiness in doing what you enjoy. Also if you tell yourself you will use just 20mins on social media ,its a lie to yourself and you again start using for 4-5 hours and feel guilty after that. So your enemy is the mind which forces you to use social media and other addictive stuff. But if you remove the social media from your life completely by doing something then your mind cant force you to use coz you cant use.
So, the solution . first of all permanently delete or temporary delete your social media and uninstall it . Then install all the important apps that you need and which are useful to you. Then apply app lock on playstore . The main part starts now , write a random password on a copy don't use letters ,use symbols like @#₹%&?!:, and don't memorize the password ,send your password to a friend and told him to save it and tear the page completely and throw it in the dustbin or burn it . After some days you will realise that you can live without insta. I am preparing for JEE so i use this technique ,I am not completely free and can't control my mind 100% but I won against social media and other useless app and I am trying my best to become a better version of me .
Motivation you have it inside ,you care and feel guilt ,want to be a better person , you are worried about your life means you have motivation but one part of our mind is the devil which embrace sadness ,want motivation ,procrastinate, it doesn't want us to grow and become a loser in life . Overthinking is a serious problem , when you will be free from social media ,make sure you don't overthink , just chill and do the think you love.
I obviously dont know you in person so take my advice with a grain of salt. I think you should get off of social media. I did that and though it was very hard at first, I eventually got used to it & started to retrain myself into enjoying long form content again & living in the moment. It also made me feel like I had ALLOT more free time. 4 hours on tiktok felt like 20 minutes to me. That way you will not only find it easier to be focused on your goals & dreams (that you mentioned in your comment) but you will also feel like you have more time to just...do stuff. Not only that but its also better for you mentally. You will be more alone with your thoughts, get to know yourself better etc. It also teaches you to face your problems instead of just scroll your feelings away when you get too upset. It takes time to gain hobbies & you will feel very bored at first. It will also take some self control. It does, however pay off in the long run. This is all just my 2 cents though. There is no obligation for you to take it.
delete social medias mate
a lamb has woken up. now you may live, hopefully a little more freely
This genuinely may have been one of the most life changing or at least perspective changing video I've ever seen. I always knew like the basis of what the video is saying but never have had it presented in such an easy to understand and impactful way.
I still find it crazy how anytime something is talked about in a video on tiktok or on Instagram recorded over from tiktok, they have another video at the bottom of some random gaming content to keep us interested. It really shows what short-form content has done to us. I just hope the latest generation that is growing up on things like Tiktok can still have the ability to research topics and form their own opinions. I don't wanna sound like a boomer, but it honestly worries me. Great content as always though, Olivia, keep it up!
i agree, those videos annoy me so much 😭
Those videos are honestly dystopic
As a teenager, I think I can speak on this a bit. While I don’t use tiktok, Instagram, twitter, etcetera (except for UA-cam and Snapchat for texting, and occasionally Reddit), most of my friends do and they can still think like normal people. Many people are more attracted to short form content but can easily understand long form things that interest them. Although my smarter friends tend to use less social media and seem less likely to jump to conclusions are say things without evidence.
Those videos truly feel like your brain is rotting away. I sincerely don't know how some people are fine with it. When I had TikTok, whenever those videos would pop up, I had to put my hand over the ''bonus'' footage just to salvage a bit of my dignity, something I seldom had anyway since I was on TikTok. Needless to say, shit like that was a wake up call to stop consuming any type of short form content, because I always feel like shit when doing it.
I don't see the issue with that at all. When I play video games on my pc, i have youtube in the background playing. or music playing. This is the same thing those tiktok videos try to emulate and this is valid for kids who don't have $3k gaming pcs
this video was rlly enlightening and terrifying. i don’t even know what to do to escape all of this content because my life is practically built around it
true even for news how can we know what really matters or not ? how can we keep ourselves updated on important things without being disturbed by useless information?
How much is your life built around it? Uninstalling?
@@ooooooooooo9656 sometimes it manifests in sacrificing important commitments to make more time for the Internet
A first step I did to "unplug" was remove the Tumblr app (or any social media you suspect you're having unhealthy attachments to) from my phone so I can only use the website when I'm on my computer, which is a desktop, so I can't just go everywhere with constant content idly beamed at me all the time. I assumed at first I would be missing out on pretty much everything but literally nothing changed that dramatically, and I started reading more books since I wasn't constantly distracted by the abyss of infinite-scroll. As a result I'm less likely to pull out my phone in the middle of a social situation to check notifications and likes and whatever, too... It's small but it's been helpful.
I'd also recommend getting into "slower" forms of internet communication/expression like creating a personal site on Neocities or joining a forum or something so you're not constantly inundated with notifications and can just focus on yourself and what you enjoy. The most important thing is to make the internet your own- not that of the corporations that run the big social medias.
Age of white noise indeed
all of gen z (including me) feels nostalgic of the late 2000s and early 2010s but it’s mostly just because we were kids. we had all these amazing toys, we mostly didn’t have to worry about other peoples opinions about us. we had minimal to no school work and when we did it was done in mere minutes. everything was simpler back then, but that’s just how childhood works.
Not all of us, i like being an adult, my childhood was hard and stressful
@@nerida3347and being an adult isn’t?? 😭
@@jennuhcide59All about your mindset. To me being an adult has brought plenty of responsibility but I enjoy the freedom it brings too and it doesn't really feel like I'm more stressed than in childhood.
@@EneTheGene i agree
As a 1997 baby I just wish we could have now, 2024, just without all the short form content. Or at least that we could have an option to turn off the reels functionality on instagram.
when you mentioned the image being more important than the content itself, that reminded me of when i started listening to kpop and I would solely listen to the song or watch the dance practice before deciding if I'd stan the group or not. I *knew* they sell the looks so I made myself blind to it. Every time.
Ironically, the speed of technology and communication is what's actually slowing me down. I can't concentrate, and I lose myself in meaningless nonsense instead of studying and leaning something useful.
riighttt.
AGREED
Hard for me to focus along with 24 hours cycle
I’ve been struggling with this so much recently
So relatable
the whole "when people are represented first by their image, and not their work" thing was SO AMAZING WHOA
That's why I put my phone in my pocket
One thing I feel after watching this video is FEAR , seriously the direction we’re going is scary
Glad I’m not the only one… thinking about what might happen in the future worries me…
shut up and get on ur phone you loser
@@alvinaac365I’ve got a few playlists you might “enjoy”, one is called Future, another is called Society, another called Phycology, another Neuroscience, another one on Depression.
It’s all good! Have a kid and pass this on to them.
@@DG4444everrrrHave a kid with the right one .
Even Instagram introduced ads in the search feed first and then eventually into the stories and then in our personal feeds to a point where now we cannot see the content of the creators we follow rather we see `here is a suggestion for you'
They shoving ads down our throat,
which is very very annoying and it completely violates the reason social media exists at the first place, thank you for this video.
Sometimes I lie on my bed looking at the ceiling and not doing anything. Just thinking and existing i guess. And everytime someone sees me doing that they get so confused and ask me why I'm not doing anything. And they instantly propose a form of entertainment. There's no real "doing nothing" anymore. Doing nothing now means watching a film, videos, playing games or whatever. Instead of, you know, doing nothing...
I think this specifically is related to how we feel like we always have to be studying, working, cleaning or doing "productive" things. So doing leisure activities has become "nothing" because working is the default mode, the only was you are really doing something. And doing literally nothing... is not even an option
But... you're not doing literally nothing. You said it yourself, you're thinking. If you want to give it a more concrete name, tell them you're meditating. Many of humanity's greatest minds did it, so why shouldn't you?
@@kernfelnow go tell that to the average human being😂 they'll still look at you weird
Oh I think about this exact thing too… like my family would literally worry if I just decided to take a break and stare at the ceiling… and it would feel very weird too because Im not used to that either… but like the fact that we think like this today is so unnatural
I found I used to do a lot more of "nothing" just thinking or sitting outside watching the clouds pass by a lot. Slowly over time I think I forced myself out of doing that because of other people's comments. Particularly the question "so what did you do today?" caused this for me because I often felt like I had little to say if I had spent a lot of that day just thinking and felt put down by people for not having anything interesting to tell them or ashamed I wasn't productive enough. This is something I've only really figured out in the past few months and have started questioning myself about why I feel the need to do certain things. Is it to fill time for someone else's approval, so I don't feel awkward when they ask what I've done or do I genuinely want to do this thing for myself? I totally agree with you that doing nothing has become synonomus with lesiure activities not true nothingness.
i like doing nothing, im usually listening to music but whenever i turn it off i jus curl up and sit there
With all these concepts in mind, it’s even more impressive to me that video essayists can create engaging, thought provoking content like this while having to confront all these distractions. And normal life too. It speaks to work ethic and a drive to get ideas out there that’s really inspirational. Great video
tho if we look at their videos close enough, we can find the same distracting crap. I miss mr Freeman, who was just a cartoon, but didnt insert any external images, videos etc...
@@Kylada-o5t they acknowledge their place in this distracting world at least. There’s an admirability in calling out the system while admitting fault within it to a certain degree which played well for me. Everyone has room to grow and I’m glad this video was made to speak to a feeling I’m sure millions have in the modern day.
@@Kylada-o5t aaannnddd there's the nostalgia we all know and love 🥰
This video inspired me to delete both tik tok and Instagram, I want to read more and go back to my hobbies and go outside more for the simplest of things! Thank you for this video.
kudos!
Well done. Light or no social media is best
@@ananya100 the it 😅 knife 🗡️🗡️ Niki i
I don't have tiktok and I don't use instagram, What I need to stop is youtube shorts 😅
I'm not even old, but I keep telling people the internet has done more bad than good and that life was better without it, it is ruining attention spans, peoples brains, and making people crazy, there's so many terrible takes that are spreading now that wouldn't even be thought of in the past, and a lot of the time people encourage the craziness, and then people think I'm some sort of boomer
we are not built for any of this, and it's all so new still, it will only get worse as time goes on, a solution must be done quick
I appreciate how you reflect on whether and how the visual aspects of a video essay affect the audiences’ comprehension of the content and their concept of learning. I’ve just started to watch video essays on UA-cam, and as thought provoking and critical as many of them are, I still feel like information is being thrown at me at an incredible speed and demands multitasking. Speech is almost always faster than my reading speed, so my brain not only needs to process the spoken message, but also pairing it with the visuals on screen (external footages, images etc.) Video essays are never the same as reading a book at your own pace, which means your only sensory input is the words on the pages. But I guess this is already a middle ground given how print has fallen out of favor and how we get information from fragments on social media. Great work! Your video essays give me hope for what Humanities and Social Sciences can do splendidly in such a technocentric world.
I think this is a contributing factor of why life feels so different than when I was a kid. Of course, the world always changes, but the fundamental feeling of living should stay the same. I used to actually feel rooted in the world, I don't know how to explain it. I remember far more of my childhood than I do my teenage years. And now I barely remember what I did in the morning. I've been trying to cut off social media, but a lot of my friends and family communicate on there so I have to have it around. I've deleted it off of my phone, now, and can only access it through a browser. I think that's a step in the right direction.
Hey @meriiky, you've put into words something I have been feeling for a long time. Feeling 'rooted' in the world, remembering things... I fill like my life is passing by and I don't remember anything. Thank you.
@@ahmaquindi this is how I exactly feel and reasons why I been so nostalgic.
There’s no reason to think you should feel the same as an adult as you did as a kid. It’s a universal experience that time seems to speed up as you age. Every year is more and more insignificant against your body of experience. Your interests and concerns grow to the point where every individual one, and every individual attempt to address one, becomes less salient. But what you’re going through sounds a little different based off limited information. You shouldn’t forget your morning on the same day, if you’re being literal about that. Many people benefit from attempts to be more mindful and address things like brain fog and just taking care of health in general. Your brain is your mind afterall.
wow are you me
@@jmass4207 This is true but the feeling of being more attached to the world has gone away. It almost feels like were more in other peoples worlds online learning all this irrelevant information whilst not staying in our own world. Being more rooted probably comes from spending all your time actually living your own life and not feeding your brain the lives of others that you won't remember in 2 days time.
Girl, CONTINUE DOING WHAT YOUR DOING. WE NEED YOU. You put in concrete words what i think all the time and can't explain to my family correctly.
you should take your time to write down about this kinda topics, maybe one day you could also make youtube videos. (:
we need more people talking about this problems in our society
did you not learn that in school? sad
@@sorenjunkers3834did you not have anything better to say? Get a life.
*you're. Just like in "I'm" for "I am" , the abbreviation stands for "you are". "Your" is a possessive pronoun, like "my/mine".
this has actually been on my mind for the past few months, and it's so uplifting to see it being seriously discussed in online spheres, as well as among personal friends in my own life. i've deleted a few of my social media apps, but its disheartening to see how widespread the issue is
I love that you brought up catching fire it’s like such a good movie and specifically that one too it’s def the best 😭😭
Amusing ourselves to death is a great read. I read it the summer of sophomore year of highschool, and it completely changed the way I consumed media and approached different forms of it.
ooooooooo now i need to read it
There’s so many books id love to read but (and I’m embarrassed to call it this) mere words can’t hold my attention. It’s not that I’m not interested, or don’t like the book. I just can’t sit and read in one sitting. But I also have adhd so I have trouble staying focused on anything😭😭🙏
i’m on a mission to restore my attention span, deleting tiktok was my first step
i just don’t want to miss out
@@samarakirkkkdon't worry there are so many different apps and sites to use to know what's going on in the world
@@samarakirkkkexactly it’s so difficult, a main way of communication with my friends when i’m not with them is by sending tiktoks and starting a discussion about them, and without that i’d feel incredibly left out.
@samarakirkkk trust me you're not missing out anything
Good luck someone please reply in this thread to remind me to start reading again
The average attention span shortening because of Tiktok is something I find very interesting. One app being invented has influenced how pretty much all media operates.
I agree. And for a lack of better phrasing, I find it strange that a majority of people imply in their wording that "just one thing" being created is often seen as powerless. I mean sometimes it really feels that way
but it's all time and place, huh?
Media has been using very short soundbites for a long time. Theres a Carl sagan quote about it. Vine was the precursor to Tiktok.
Vine did it first and it was a reaction to short form clips on youtube. It was an evolution of several stages that ended up causing this.
I believe we all can amuse ourselves 100x better than any tiktok video or podcast.
But it's just easier and faster to outsource self-amusement to internet and it eventually becomes a habit/addiction trying to reach that almoast impossible goal by listening others self-amusing themselves and laughing for you.
Those things require you to become silent, passive, emotioneless consumer, instead feeling genuine pleasure, random waves of happiness and aliveness yourself.
I have laughed uncontrollably for 9gag content, podcasts and comedy shows maybe 4 times in my life, but with inner self-dialogue its almoast effortless. We all have the creativity and imagination for it.
There are some funny stuff worth of nose pfff exhale, but maybe I am here just for the small dose of dopamine of hearing new things and endless flow of meaningless information.
y'all acting like TikTok invented shortform content when it was originally a replacement for Vine, and the predecessor for that was youtube making 10 minute videos be the most optimal for content creation to dollar value produced allllll the way back even before vine was poppin'
People like you are really valuable. I am so grateful.
As a teacher, our attention spans are definitely much more limited as I've gotten older and taught more years. But I think it's important that we learn to train ourselves, and others, to be able to have focus when necessary, but also to allow ourselves to be jelly brained when needed as well.
Constantly reading, learning and processing, is a huge mental task, so we do still need the ability to step away when needed.
But that's just my two-cents~
exactly, people always act like we HAVE to be productive ALL the time. No, that's not how humans work. If you're taking a break from social media, go out just touching grass and or just sit in your porch doing or thinking nothing. Just exist sometimes. If you have a healthy relationship with the internet, then go watch your favourite youtuber. You don't have to be constantly be productive.
@@based4indian2commie0slut69 It's not about being PRODUCTIVE all the time. It's over-consumption of short form content that's the issue, there are other ways to let loose outside of the internet like you said.
I think the problem is that mindlessly consuming is not resting: it's a tiring activity. Spend the whole day watching TV, or UA-cam, or TikToks, and your mind won't be rested: it will have slowly grown tired.
It's so important to be able to disengage from those and learn to let that "jelly brain" state take over: going for a walk, staring at the wall, getting bored and letting the mind truly rest, recovering for a while with no new interesting input to process.
You are correct, but the problem is we live in an addicted society with enabling nodes literally everywhere. It would be unethical to tell an alcoholic that we all need a drink from time to time. People have to have healthy relationships with themselves first to conquer addiction. People who are addicted to screens should not use video games and other addictive electronics for their jelly Brain moments in my opinion
@@mrknarf4438 i mean, what constitutes your brain tiering out? If im lost in thought or day dreaming im still doing something, im still activly engaged which can be tiering, no?
It a relief that not only a decent amount of other people seem aware of this taking place, but also that there's people like you capable of making videos that do a great job informing on the topic.
Wow!I'm the first comment to a verified person!
@@faridawiser5441 big W!
I'm so happy that one day I found your videos! This is the content I need: long monologues filled in with well-researched material and several books that I can (re)read after. Thank you for your work!!
oh my goodness. im 13 and have recently been needing to find what I'm most interested in to make a plan for the next years of high school. I've always loved politics, business, law, and the way society works. i find your videos so interesting. i just discovered your channel yesterday and watched 3 videos and I'm OBSESSED!! you are an amazing talker who explains things clearly and makes everything fit perfectly. about to go binge watch every video!
Don’t stress keep it pushing, good thing that your educating yourself
I have to say, Olivia, that segue to introduce the book 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' by Neil Postman written in 1985 with a foreword written by his son Andrew Postman was truly perfect.
You've just taught me that that's how you spell segue.
this gave me answers in a weird way. i was upset before watching this because i was mean to someone on accident earlier this day. i apologized- or i tried to, but i still felt very bad for upsetting someone especially since they already seemed upset for other reasons. i pride myself on watching my acctions well and making sure of how i affect others around me and i felt like i had failed in doing so. i was supressing my emotions by filling up my head with mindless entertainment. scrolling, watching tv, and then youtube when i stumbled across this video. the part at 16:00 really hit me. i relized i shouldnt just be consuming content trying to push my feelings away when what i should be doing is sitting with them and really reflecting on myself and my actions. after i comment this im going to close this video and take a shower maybe make some food with no media and just think and understand my actions and feelings. so thank you for making this video. i know this is a really long boring comment that nobody will care about but im doing it more for myself. its theraputic to write something and know that someone could read it even if no one does. ok thats it bye.
I‘m proud of you for self-reflecting like this! Wish more people were capable of doing that 🫠
I agree with you that we are becoming mindless, reckless, people who want entertainment with constant scrolling and that really fills our minds with basically nothing.
Self-reflection seems boring and some people really avoid being alone and acknowledge their actions, thoughts and feelings. I belong to a land where meditation (Dhyana) came from and I struggle with sitting quietly and focusing my mind.
But i believe once we realize what we are doing, we can take a step to better ourselves. Good luck with you!
Was the phone related to you accidentally offending this person? what happened
Nah, you made a good point, hope you Aren't stressing out about what happened with that person, have a good day :)❤
Cool
I love video essays, they are literally all I watch on UA-cam these days. This was kind of scary in a way, feel like we are losing ourselves to phones :D
yeah. me too. sometimes I still wonder to myself if it helps to take all this information in long form. am I just going to let it slip away when I close this tab? or has the deeper look at history and outlined information given me something to mentally chew on? is there a seed planted in us now that will grow and encourage us to find and act on solutions, even on the individual scale?
517 similarry
@@taraswick3586 i worry the same
@@taraswick3586 That's why I don't like to overload when it comes to video essays, and I honestly don't think i'd watch various channels about it
I think the most apt example can be seen in classrooms, the mode of teaching has shifted from text-heavy books to image-heavy ones.
I just binged a whole manga series (11 books) without thinking of anything else, after thinking of what I read for a minute it really gave me some peace I was looking for. Just after I started watching this video in its entirety with my full attention. It’s a great feeling, to be able to just enjoy 1 thing and just that one thing in its entirety. Our focus sucks, we need to enjoy things more deeply
What's the series drop it.
@@ryanvaughn3121 it was just masamune-kuns revenge, nothing special, but I liked it, and read it all in one go 😅
i think what you saying is something correlated on what they call "flow state" in psychology
Stretch
@@IGuessVince I remember watching the anime for that years ago, it's a fun watch. Reminds me that there'll be a sequel coming up this year.
Your videos bring great help , i didn't used to think about this but after spending some time in silence ,my majority of opinions are shaped through the validation of social media , sometimes positive but still far away from making real opinions
Saying out loud or writing down what you think and why, helps me figure out if I've not developed my own ideas about something.💛
@@mewmew6158 yep , it's a great way to review some real opinions by oneself
i’ll never get over how well researched and put together these videos are
The point you make about people thinking about speeches or writing when they hear a persons name instead of their image is so interesting and I think likely relates to the idea of judging people’s appearance. The shallowness of judging what people wear or how their face looks now dwarfs what their mind is capable of.
Olivia, you are really good at communicating ideas. Some thinkers believe that the more complicated the words they use, the more valuable their information will be (maybe not consciously), but you truly know how to just say what you mean, in a deeper way, yet making it simple and raw. Your words leave us thinking and seeking for more knowledge. Thank you!
What “thinkers” are you listening to?
I'm not even old, but I keep telling people the internet has done more bad than good and that life was better without it, it is ruining attention spans, peoples brains, and making people crazy, there's so many terrible takes that are spreading now that wouldn't even be thought of in the past, and a lot of the time people encourage the craziness, and then people think I'm some sort of boomer
we are not built for any of this, and it's all so new still, it will only get worse as time goes on, a solution must be done quick
let me add one more thing, corporations control the internet and they are intentionally getting people addicted to milk them, it will keep going and going until it's not possible to get people any more addicted
I’m just glad the algorithm brought me to your channel, been severely lacking thoughtful content and it has been so refreshing to find someone who seems acutely aware of both the medium they’re using and the message they’re sending. Thank you for being what I consider a voice of reason in this chaotic online existence.
You sound a lot like me ^_^ lol
Great video. My dad was literally talking to me about how disappointed he was with me because with all the books we have in our house, me and my brother don't ever read any of them. And I think you explain very well why that might be. We are so used to consuming information via media that we have forgotten the beauty of reading, evaluating and taking time to interpret the information we have read.
@KC Very strange. Statistics show younger people are buying more books than genXers and boomers. Are you all possibly buying but not reading them?
@@crisvis8905 unfortunately this is probably more to trends and video hype making people online (especially tiktok) convining gen z'rs to but things like Colleen hoover books
@@crisvis8905 I think this might be happening because there's this subconscious reward in the brain that you get from buying a book, whether you read it or not. I think It's the same reason people buy videogames and take years to get to playing them. You get a hit of dopamine just imagining the fun you will have (eventually) with your game. Humans like to collect things, and everyone looks smarter with a filled bookshelf 🤣
o.o
@@crisvis8905 I'ma be real with you, it's probably just tiktokers buying books to use as backgrounds in their bookshelf (that they never read) to seem interesting
I've been saving this video to watch later, and I've never regretted doing something as I do now. As aware as I already was about some of the topics, you've opened my eyes to the real reason why there's so much information everywhere. This video made me want to become a better, more informed person, and it starts today.
good video!
A man of culture I see
fr
good comment!
@@Philip-qq7ql almost feels as though they didn't watch the whole thing and just left a comment...
My guy just said "good video" but is contributing to the problem :/
this topic concerns me so much, yet i still can't help consuming much more audiovisual content than written content... thank you so much for this video, it was great
Honestly, start small! A page a day, then two pages and do on!
It’s an addiction
As a person who has somewhat quit social media, which took so much time away from me, I've come to value a good time with friends and family, or just by myself. Walking around the city alone feels kinda real if that's the right term, instead of sitting in the lounge watching the news which i have come to find as irrelevant, unless it is relevant which it rarely is. To see the world as it is with your own eyes instead thought a screen which is from another one is nice to say the least
The neighborhood of strangers metaphor was perfect. The world is simultaneously more and less connected than ever
This video couldn't have been recommended to me at a better time. I've been getting frustrated with how much my screen time has increased from consuming content that I genuinely don't care about or even remember to kill time, procrastinate other tasks, or just so I don't have to sit in silence with my thoughts.
The part about having the screen split with subway surfers or other visual stimulation especially resonated with me because even when doing everyday tasks I feel like I have to have some video, podcast, or other content to distract myself from the monotony of doing dishes.
Anyways, this video was the push I needed to set app timers and restrictions on digital wellbeing to try to be more mindful of how I spend my time in a day. I'm gonna go outside, sit in silence, and touch some grass.
If you really want to give it a shot, slowly start removing your apps, one by one. Even the ones you use daily. It's hard at first and you'll want to redownload them since it's so simple, but if you don't and actually give it some time, you'll find you are never looking at your phone anymore as you have no reason to and it starts to feel really good on all of the senses.
Do you have PTSD or neurodivergency? I have the same issue but I assumed mine was due to the complex PTSD that I developed during the course of an abusive relationship that went on for over a decade, and then I had to live alone for the first time after never living alone before in my life. So being here in silence was really difficult, especially since I lost my career, I lost my entire family, and I lost almost all of my friends. Three of my best friends died.
You would make a great professor. Everything you say is put so eloquently and your videos have definitely helped me open my mind. I agree with everything you're saying, it's no secret that our attention spans are progressively getting worse and worse. I just hope how fast technology and society is progressing will make more people realize how important it is to preserve our earth and live our life in the present. Social media is a hard thing to drop entirely, especially if you have little friends outside of online spaces. But at the very least, limiting your time with it and practicing mindfulness definitely helps you be more content. You'll start to notice that you're bored a lot less and are less antsy. Also, seeking out information and truth for yourself is an active effort and is not something just scrolling through apps can really provide. As scared as I am for the future, I can only hope our generation will come to their senses and focus on what really matters right now. You've helped me be much more mindful with your videos and they're a great gateway to dive into some of these topics deeper myself. Thank you
GORILLAZ PFP OMG
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
my mind has opened and I have now reached a higher frequency… thanks to you. Thank you.
miss your contents man.
What does reached a higher frequency mean? Frequency of what?
@@gorochu4287 it means his voice sounds like a hamster
( bs speaker here )
higher frequency?
Frequency?, huh?, you didnt reach any higher frequency man you just got aware about things of life and thats it
This is propably in my opinion, one of the most important videos on this platform. Thank you for your work. I hope the world changes for the better. It feels like we have done so much work everyday even though all we do is watch UA-cam and Social Media. I just realised how much of the stuff we see online isn't really important in our daily lives because we actually don't remember 95% of it. We get worried about everything that happens around the world even though most of us were not really affected heavily by it. This video will propably open a lot of eyes for a lot of people.
Love this video. It’s an issue that’s always at the back of my head. I literally don’t consume short form content because of how wrong it feels to watch it. It almost feels dystopian. What a time to be alive...
To all the zoomers out there: You don't know this, but there was a time when ads on the Internet were borderline inexistant.
Ads were a billboard sign you could ignore, a newspaper page you'd quickly turn, or a TV commercial break you'd use to go pee or grab a snack.
But the omipresence of ads on the internet, in apps, on social media, etc is *absurd*
The platform you're on became accessory to the ads they push you, not the other way around.
I can't stress this enough: put down your phones, get adblocks, be more critical of the content you watch, and overall don't abdicate to becoming stupid coomsumer.
The internet wasn't supposed to be this way. It was hijacked by corporations, pure and simple.
Together, we can be smarter and do better.
I could not agree more. (Also dont forget to use Sponsorblock). UA-cam thinks that Adblock = Piracy, when in reality, UA-cam is just pirating people's time, especially with their double ads, triple ads, and 10 ads. You could argue about UA-cam premium, but this is an internetwide issue and not just something in a platform
These internet ads are honestly too stimulating and dangerous. I do not understand why people are okay with it. Why are they okay with getting random garbage shoved in their face in the middle of a serious video?
Its honestly nice having commercials in entertainment channels instead of having ads getting shoved in peoples faces. These commercials act like white space in printed media.
I hope people can realize just how impractical ads really are, and how much irreputable damage they cause.
I know man, the wild west internet of 1998-2010 was the greatest. After that, everything went corporate, and has went violently downhill from there.
As an economics estudent in university, it is really hard to balance paying attention to the news, which I consider relevant for my studies, and not getting distracted with useless information. I also believe that Huxley's story, though not as brutal and violent as Orwell's, actually is scarier to me, and the world seems to be heading that way. I love your videos because they are about relevant topics and they definetly motivate me to search more, while also being entertaining enough for my gen z brain. Keep up the amazing content! Hope to see you next month with another amazing video.
I recently decided to quit social media to test how it would affect me. I’ve never really been the biggest fan of short form content and always felt like shit every prime I consumed it. And now I’m genuinely interring becoming more educated and intellectual. This video brought to light the effects social media is having on our society as a whole and it’s pretty scary. Nice video Olivia👍🏾
this video was a literal eye-opener. we can already see how our shortened attention spans have led to a lack of focus and creativity. but thank you for enlightening us on this topic, it was much needed.
I was really happy to see someone talking about the deeper side of social media, and its effects on our perception of the world. I have a class that analyses social media, and we were debating over lots of interesting topics, but it had never occurred to me that we live off looks and how entertaining a thing can be to decide its worth. Love your videos a lot!! You share so much knowledge!
this sounds like a class i'd be interested in too!! can you share the name? or like, what other names it might fall under?
@@sooya2198 I live in Brazi, the translation of the name would be something like social media and it's side effects. It's a simple name, but it's really hard to sum it all up in a phrase. My teacher is one of the best people ever, we get really deep, I just don't know if there are any classes similar to it in other places... If you find any, tell me!!
you mentioned at one point how long form content like yours doesn’t give the “rush of dopamine” that hate comments are referring to when they say your content isn’t stimulating enough, and I want to say, like- I personally DO feel a rush of dopamine from your content because it’s so refreshingly paced and well done. I feel a rush knowing that my thoughts aren’t alone, and to listen to someone who is well articulated without using jargon that wouldn’t be understood by most people. It’s so nice to actually sit in and experience a piece of content that feels like what videos on UA-cam were, at least in part, originally meant to convey.
I recently read "Brave New World", the book you mentioned at the beginning of the video, for school, and it was like a punch in the face to hear you speak about it and actually making me understand what I had just read. Somehow, with the whole entertainment circus we find ourselves in, I got through over 300 pages of serious political fears and didn't even realize how relevant all of it was. This video hit me so hard, what you said was literally under my eyes and I didn't even notice.
Go ahead with Postman, if you are unsure get a sample of Postman in the pdf. Bullshit and the art of crap detecting! :)
read manufacturing consent by noam chomsky!
@@sabrinanaser9327 Great book, read it a decade ago! Chomsky, Pilger, Klein, Postman etc.. Just read, read read!
as someone who read this in school seven years ago, it was still a slap in the face!
Take time to digest what you read. Actually sit and ponder, be it mid chapter or even mid sentance.
It feels like a chore at first, but the more you do it, the easier it becomes.
Now, a good question is whether that is because it is a skill you have to train or a process of de habituating another, say like the lack of attention span from modern media.
With the mind less cluttered by useless rabble, not only do we have room to think, but we actually want to!
I recently shared a funny 20 minute video with a friend of mine and their first response was to praise me for being able to watch the whole video in one sitting and even genrally watching videos as long as 20 minutes. I didn't directly relate to having a short attention span, but now I realize how I stop watching content if it doesn't catch my interest in the first five minutes (especially Netflix shows).
While video essays with educational purposes are interesting most of the time, I often just watch them because I feel a sense of responsibility to educate myself. Sometimes I just cut them off in the middle, because I realize that I've been listening to the words, but didn't understand the meaning and context. I've always blamed this on English not being my first language, but I've probably just lost interest halfway through.
Attention spans are not actually decreasing my friend, companies are just getting better at hijacking it. Every research paper about them indicates they are the same or increasing, while companies, especially social media ones, have become avenues to cope with stress, depression, and discomfort as they have become extremely efficient in taking it from you.
This is not about attention span, or people having short attention spans. It’s about peoples interests. Social media and UA-cam is a narcissists breeding ground. And people post and over saturate content. These people are lazy and want easy work for money. These type of content are then pushed by the algorithm, which was remade to hide certain content from people. So the algorithm barely works, when someone posts a click bait title or over saturate UA-cam, and enter into the algorithm, people will watch only a few seconds or minutes of the video and click of. As they won’t be interested. And most content are produced by narcissist documenting their lives and hobbies, thinking they are so interesting. And people who don’t know any better watch them. And the people who know better click off the video after a few seconds. If people are interested in a thing, they will give it all their attention. I personally do this and I can sit down and watch a good interesting series for hours.
have you noticed how many UA-cam content creators now post a highlight of the video in the beginning before the video starts? I's sad.
If something doesn't interest you in the first five minutes, you're better off not watching it. Life is short. Focus on watching things you know you're going to enjoy.
@@acex222 Bingo. People always love to seem smart by looking at things on the surface level. But a deeper look, will show their weird ideologies and theories are all false. People don’t like to give things deeper thought. The see something and run with it.
This is by far the best content I have seen on youtube in months. I was randomly recommended this while eating lunch but literally had to stop watching and pick it up later because my brain wasn't zoned in enough to appreciate how interesting and thought provoking it was. Keep up the great work.
I was randomly recommended too but i'm glad It did
im very thankful ive withdrew from a lot of mainstream social media sometime in the mid 2010s because i was starting to feel the negative effects of it on my mental health. Its only gotten worse for a lot of people, I hope that anyone reading this remembers to take time to themselves in the real world, it’s hard at first but so worth it to break out of the cycle
This was one of the most thought provoking videos I've seen on youtube. I don't really ever watch video essays but I'm glad I stumbled onto your channel. I've had a few phases where I'd delete social media, but I'd always keep one around. Finally after watching this, I just removed all of it from my phone, hopefully it will stick.
give us an update!!
ive dropped socials for 8 or so months now - have never ever felt better and i loved socials to bits. im tryna work on ridding myself of yt too but its giving me the most difficulty yet lol
Just a heads up that UA-cam is also a social media if you did not know. But I get not wanting to delete it. It really does have its usefulness in the documentaries, essays like this, educational content, etc. that’s where it shines mostly. The shorts that were added is just TikTok jr, and most other content is just mindless entertainment. I’m including things such as gaming videos to this of course, but I use this example because it is the reason I kept UA-cam in addition to finding new music and videos like this. I like watching a video for gaming tips or to help me if I’m stuck.
Anyway, all this to say-just be mindful of what you delete, what you keep, how long you stay on what you keep, and for what reasons you keep what you keep.
this is exactly why I like to study philosophy, sociology, and creative writing.
what books on those subjects are your favorite?
I would recommend to supplement philosophy and sociology with ethnographies by cultural anthropologists. Gives a different perspective.
I LOVE SOCIOLOGY 🤩
Waste of time... Should have studied science instead...
@@ZESTIESTBESTIESLAY Sociology doesn't explain anything....
All of humanity's problems stem from man's inability to sit quietly in a room alone. - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) French mathematician
Bro was spitting fax 4 centuries before it is needed
bs
He died so young
Define problem
Man certainly doesnt cease to exist just because life is meaningless. Are you assuming that the basis for man, or his conciousness's survival stems from meaning. If so then that assumption is worth elaborating. I dont think life itself must have meaning, or even value as the basis. Distracting yourself from the inherent meaninglessness of life to prevent a suicidal ending, is not the only mode of existence isnt it, since another - accepting life as lacking an inherent meaning and embrace it - might be a better alternative mindset
This video is genuinely one of the few videos ive watched on youtube that legitimately left me thinking to myself and saying, "holy fuck thats true"
I've been thinking heavily about this as of the past couple of weeks. This especially occurred on Fridday at school. We had an incredibly heavy day, and a lot of my classes just happened to go over incredibly depressing topics which take time to digest. between addiction recovery stories and ww2 in Europe, it was really difficult to process everything. However, the moment I step out of the classroom, there'll be students joking around. It gave me some sort of emotional whiplash and I had to sit out for nearly 30 minutes.
It's also been reoccurring to me on short-term content too. I know a lot of people joke about how they need a second video whilst watching the first one to consume the content. I cannot understand how people are able to consume stuff easier like that. It feels overstimulating for me, and it makes me even feel a little bit dizzy. It's just frustrating to see a really serious topic on Instagram followed by some meme. It gives me no time to digest the topic and I end up feeling guilty and self blaming myself about this.
same. The other day on Tiktok I saw a video of a dog being eaten by a I think tiger and I was so triggered about it but when I went into the comment section (mainly to see if it was real so I could calm down) everyone was joking about it and acting like it was normal.
Dont feel guilty about content being overwhelming. I think it's designed to be that way. If you need time to decompress after something heavy that's totally fine, it's natural.
@@isagallego3496 yes, I've noticed how... desensitized gen z has become. In a sense, I understand. It's hard to feel so much anguish or hurt or heartbreak because we've already seen how disappointing and apathetic the world is. But we can't shove away our sympathy and empathy, and let others become the same way. It's difficult to appreciate the world, especially in such a tech-driven world. Hopefully we don't keep that sort of outlook for the rest of our lives...
There is so much flashy imagery and information that people are overstimulated all the time. To the point where anything else is understimulating and to where you need two videos in one. One isn't enough anymore nowadays.
All I read was Fridday.
Personally I stand in a weird relationship to video essays where I listen to them while working out or drawing. To me the visuals don't matter and I'm sure I've missed out on tons of visual gags creators have hidden, but that doesn't really matter to me. I'm here to listen to ideas and think about them, and visuals only distract me from that. As long as you have a clear voice, steady pace and a subject I'm interested in, I'm good. Which btw, you succeed in all if that, gave me a lot to chew on, thank you :)
haha same watching this video while doing my makeup
me too, watching it with my phone screen off
@@sappychloe Same, I like to listen to her videos when I'm just going through the everyday stuff that don't require much brainpower, like housechores or cooking. She has a very nice, steady voice so it's really easy to get immersed into that while my body is on autopilot.
For real I really wouldn’t mind a full video of her without any outside footage, just her talking about an interesting topic.
the way i’m watching this video on the elliptical right now reading this comment
I wonder how much of a negative impact auto-generated AI content (pictures and texts) will have before people start to doubt all media. Or perhaps people will truly become meek and succumb to the firehouse of information like in Brave New World. That’s scary, but great video!
I'm already starting to doubt images I see online are real, scary
Photo, audio, and video editing tools have existed for years at this point so I'd argue it's a good thing for people to be more skeptical
Love Brave New World, one of my favorite books. I know that’s irrelevant, just wanted to say it
@@yourlocalcemetery No, not scary, that's very good since you clearly believed everything blindly before.
It’s already happen. People are asking artist to prove its there art work for example. And, not AI created.
Best video on UA-cam I have ever seen thanks for the worthy content for us ❤
I mostly watch your videos as a podcast rather than looking at the screen. Your videos seriously made me miss UA-cam and their educational content, and seriously the way you speak is more than enough to keep me entertained and realize more things in life that I was already questioning. After watching this video you actually made me feel a sense of fear yet worrisome for us humans in the future. Many people I know today always form opinions by just watching or listening to only one person displaying the information. They don't question their credibility or even if they do have Ethos they might take advantage of it by displaying the wrong information. And yes, you do make me want to read and research more about topics you have been talking about.
Holy smokes this video is so refreshing. I've been that millennial guy who was warning my friends way back in 2014 about the power of echo chambers, i had a tech background and an interest in psychology and foresaw the effect it was having on conversation quality. Nearly 9 years later we have stepped into a new level of insanity.
yess sociology is insane, we need more people educated on history and the effects technology has had on society, knowledge will lead to change 🤞 gen z here
It's so important to highlight the social differences in the pre-brick-phone landline 1998 era where stimulation level was so low. The Smartphone has become a new drug, with drug-like withdrawals, and we mistreat its symptoms with other drugs, mistaking a lot of its symptoms to be a pathological mental illness, ADHD, Autism, Bipolar, etc. etc. I firmly believe we have an enormously upside-down relationship between expression and impression. A Negative impression is made on us - then we come home and vent it outwardly as an expression, this breathe-in breath-out cycle keeps the balance of good mental and emotional health. Today we constantly bombed with negative information at all times, and the brain was not designed to take on an emotional load that large, which is now playing into feelings of "Overwhelm' and "Overstimulation" leading to emotional exhaustion and eventually depression in large majorities of the population.@@hannahclah5701
Hi Olivia, thanks for covering this topic. I found your analysis very much on point, not to say brilliant. When I look around, it seems like we are too distracted to even grasp the horrible consequences of the age of distraction. It is of vital importance to start a discussion on a political and sociatle level. Banning Tik Tok would not be enough, limiting phones in schooles would not be enough. Much of my youth is being systematically taken away by social media design by specilized teams to keep me on them. We must take action, this cannot continue
i agree with you but i have a small question what are your suggestions on tackling this situation considering you said we must take action because it is quite difficult as the effect of this engulfing "parasite" has taken over practically the entirety of gen z.
@@miilktyong_ unfortunately, you are right. This is indeed a vicious cycle, but not one impossible to break. Recently, I've seen much more awereness on this topic, both online and in real life. I think that everyone should start by limiting the time they spend on social media and asking other to do so. That would be enough to start a discussion.
I know, it kinda sucks not having a proper answer (if you have any suggestions, i'll be happy to embrace them) but this is the pace at which societies and politics work.
@@federicocolombo687 first off, thanks for answering to my question :) and i like your approach to this situation i totally think that this best way (as of now, perhaps there are better ways) would be to raise awareness to the cause and limit ourselves. I would make another suggestion but i can't think of any and your suggestion was the first thing i thought as soon as i finished the video... perhaps someone else sees this comment and gives us a better suggestion to this issue. Thanks once again for answering my question
Social media can be a great tool to connect people, stop acting like it's inherently evil
@@moonbunnygw8342 i agree it can be great in terms of connection and passing ideas, thoughts and opinions but i mean the influx of useless and very vague content that is given out these days in term of short form videos is a serious issue... and plus the cons outweigh the pros in term of social media usage for entertainment.
I bumped into this video this morning and I'm excited to explore more of your content. I'm old enough to remember life before the internet and I like to listen to thoughtful content while performing other tasks. I was breaking the bank on audio books so I'm very happy to have encountered you. To me, an intelligent exploration of ideas is not only entertaining but empowers self reflection and, as a result, worldview development. Real personal growth is much better dopamine than a frenetic burst of quick amusement. Both have their place, but please know that your content is as valuable as it is unexpected on a platform such as UA-cam!