this post was submitted on 23 Dec 2023
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The Atlantic: Nobody Knows What’s Happening Online Anymore. Why you’ve probably never heard of the most popular Netflix show in the world. (archive.ph)
submitted 2 years ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world
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The Atlantic: Nobody Knows What’s Happening Online Anymore. Why you’ve probably never heard of the most popular Netflix show in the world.::undefined

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[–] maegul@lemmy.ml 119 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (5 children)

An insightful thought from a TV critic I read years ago just as streaming was taking off :

There’s no such thing as the best TV show anymore, because there’s so much that’s generally good enough to be a candidate that no one person has watched it all and spent the time to assess it properly.

More broadly, this had happened to western culture with the internet. Previously, with only three tv channels and two major papers, we were all literally on the same page.

I’d go further and say there’s a vertical dimension too in terms of complexity. Society and its various aspects such as technology are now complex enough in total they I don’t think anyone can ever say they understand what’s going on.

[–] _number8_@lemmy.world 41 points 2 years ago (3 children)

One of the worst catalysts of this is when channels started dropping entire seasons of shows at once online to appease le epic binge watching culture. But when everyone watches something new like that at once, there's no time to actually appreciate anything or discuss the story or build anticipation, it just gets burned through and forgotten within 2 weeks.

[–] Whelks_chance@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

It does still allow for catch-up at the end of the run though. I prefer to binge watch, but now I wait a few months for it all to be released and then watch it. Which still doesn't allow for week to week discussion, but fits my watching patterns better.

[–] maegul@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Yea for sure.

I think that whole thing of dropping whole seasons and how it’s kinda faded somewhat is an interesting case study of this particular internet culture moment.

Where we think we want more and faster but have lost sight that that’s just a dumb dopamine mentality left unbalanced and unmitigated and that we actually prefer more traditional forms of various things.

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 years ago (3 children)

At the same time look at novels, when one comes out it doesn't get released one 10 pages chapter at a time...

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Sometimes they do. Dickens and Tolstoy wrote and published serially. So do an awful lot of fanfic writers in the present day.

[–] abbotsbury@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

And then there was the weekly Dracula thing popular on Tumblr a few years ago where they take a non serialized novel (as far as I know) and split it up based on the dates of the correspondence within, going a level further than serialization and delivering the story "real time" as the letters and newspapers were sent/published in the story.

[–] Maven 7 points 2 years ago

Serial writing used to be a big thing, and even today there's a reason for the popularity of fanfics and webnovels. Hell, remember Homestuck?

[–] maegul@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 years ago

True. But then reading is probably a more self-limiting format than film/tv. At least for most people.

[–] slumberlust@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The only reason they've gone back to slow drip releases is to milk your engagement and subscription.

[–] Pips 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Okay and what's wrong with seeking engagement with whatever they're making (which every person who makes anything does) and trying to ensure continued subscription, which makes sense given the business? I agree that streaming has generally become ridiculous and diluted, but there's nothing inherently wrong with wanting people to watch stuff and attempting to ensure a steady revenue stream to do it.

[–] slumberlust@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Is watching the whole series not enough? For me it's removing the option to choose my own pace. People can choose to watch slowly if they want, but you can't binge if it's not available. I dont even bother with shows until the whole season is out, so it's limiting the engagement for me, but that's my own preference.

[–] Pips 1 points 2 years ago

A lot of people cancel after watching the series. Releasing over several weeks allows for a continual revenue stream over those weeks. For people who like bingeing, the show is pretty much always up in full at the end of its run.

[–] Monument 18 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I use the phrase “societal decoheshion” to describe that. We (whoever that may be) just aren’t all that unified enough in our culture or information sources anymore.

Even just since Reddit became dead to us, my wife (who I met through Reddit) and I went to different platforms, and find ourselves often catching each other up on what our respective corners of the internet are doing.

[–] treadful@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago

I think culture just doesn't respect traditional boundaries anymore. There's still unity, but it might be with some anonymous individuals from across the globe.

[–] sentient_loom@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There are tons of young millionaire youtubers who I've never heard of. It's pretty cool actually that there are so many niches to fill.

[–] maegul@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

And plenty of poor low-subscriber channels that are actually really good and could blow up at some point.

I’ve certainly watched some people from before they were big and from memory their content was more or less just as good in the “early” days. Which all up makes for a pile of stuff!

[–] Zeth0s@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I do, I learned everything on Facebook. AMA

[–] Death_Equity@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

What is in the vaccine Uncle Jerry?

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 years ago

There IS a best TV show and it’s Six Feet Under and it’s perfect and the ending makes me cri every time and I will FIGHT ANYONE WHO DISAGREES

But srsly it’s a 10/10

[–] veroxii@lemmy.world 53 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I'm pretty happy here in our corner of Lemmy. Why would I want to know what's going everywhere on the internet all at once?

[–] Potatos_are_not_friends@lemmy.world 19 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This.

Lemmy isn't at mass growth yet. So right now - it's nice to NOT see every stupid story about some no-name political guy say something stupid. Or NOT hear about some rage bait game pissing people off. Or NOT know about a shitty conglomerate is continuing being shitty.

[–] Squizzy@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

To be honest the feeling isn't like reddit of old, a lot of the people who have come here are the type finding pride in being on the outside and there's a lot of arrogance and pride with people on here for being the ones to move here.

I think they feel superior because they're over here and not reddit but reddit used to have brilliant long form discussions I'm just not seeing here. Granted reddit itself has way worse content now is definitely worse than lemmy, but we haven't captured what we lost.

[–] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 42 points 2 years ago (1 children)

This might explain why meta wants to join the fediverse.

A shift away from a knowable internet might feel like a return to something smaller and purer. An internet with no discernable monoculture may feel, especially to those who’ve been continuously plugged into trending topics and viral culture, like a relief. But this new era of the internet is also one that entrenches tech giants and any forthcoming emergent platforms as the sole gatekeepers when it comes to tracking the way that information travels. We already know them to be unreliable narrators and poor stewards, but on a fragmented internet, where recommendation algorithms beat out the older follower model, we rely on these corporations to give us a sense of scale.

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 32 points 2 years ago (1 children)

But I have heard of Stranger Things!

[–] Kecessa@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The Night Agent is the most watched Netflix show they're talking about

[–] TheBat@lemmy.world 38 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

[–] lemann@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 years ago

Stealing this gif thanks 😁

[–] oversea@lemmings.world 14 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I don't know how many are like me who almost doesn't watch tv shows at all. I tried to watch a few but at best it's quite mediocre to me compared to a good movie, and they are too long for my like. Nowadays I only watch movies, or read books, besides playing games. I don't know how much I'm considered a weirdo today for not watching tv shows at all.

[–] StorminNorman@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

Where as I'm the converse, all I watch is tv these days. Will watch 10 movies a year, if that. I long the longer and stronger connection I can form with the characters over a tv season. And I did they can tell more elaborate stories with the longer time compared to a movie. Different strokes for different folks though.

[–] KrapKake@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Don't worry, I watch neither TV shows nor movies. I would just rather do something else with my time, like programming stuff, learning something new, and playing video games. If I am stuck with nothing to do I will watch something on YouTube. I think I would rather watch content made by real people instead of studios if that make sense.

[–] Amphobet@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 2 years ago

Thanks for posting the archived version. I ran across this story recently and hit a paywall right after the article mentioned the problem with paywalls.