Ironically, as our ability to focus on a show declines, streaming services like Netflix seem to respond by making content that requires less attention.
This involves familiar tropes and broad storytelling that feel primed for surface engagement rather than meaningful impact. (Quirky yet competent protagonist? Check. Dark family secret that threatens to tear apart generational legacy? Check. A plane hijacking? That’ll be the top show in Singapore.)
Even titles resemble blunt, SEO-friendly descriptions (The Night Agent, The Stranger, The Perfect Family) engineered for quick reach on a scrolling feed, yet many lack resonance that I may recall a plot but never the show name.
Such moves are intentional, suggested American cultural critic Will Talvin in an essay on how Netflix ruined movies.
More “pseudo movies” were being made for viewers to run in the background while doing other tasks, “designed to be played but not watched”, Talvin wrote in n+1 magazine in December 2024.
“Such slipshod filmmaking works for the streaming model, since audiences at home are often barely paying attention,” he said.
“Several screenwriters who’ve worked for the streamer told me a common note from company executives is ‘have this character announce what they’re doing so that viewers who have this programme on in the background can follow along.’”
In line with such alleged practices of creating for passive consumption, I’ve also noticed the increasingly common plot device of therapy. It may tackle the taboo around mental health, but more often than not, an onscreen therapist serves to spell out another character’s motivations – as opposed to trusting viewers to infer emotions through subtext.
Like immersive TV and movies, reading culture has also taken a hit. While I can read an online article spanning several thousand words in one sitting, I struggle to finish a book despite going through several a day pre-smartphone.
With others like me, it’s little wonder bookstores are a dying business. I’ve even seen apps advertised as “TikTok for books” with a dystopian promise to summarise a novel into its key points – even though any true reader would know such efficiency misses the point of reading.
