Doom Scrolling Fixed by Watching Cheers Re-Runs
July 5, 2024
This essay is the work of a dumb dinobaby. No smart software required.
I spotted an article which provided a new way to think about lying on a sofa watching reruns of “Cheers.” The estimable online news resource YourTango: Revolutionizing Your Relationships published “Man Admits he Uses TV to Heal His Brain from Endless Short-Form Content. And Experts Agree He’s onto Something.” Amazing. The vast wasteland of Newton Minnow has morphed into a brain healing solution. Does this sound like craziness? (I must admit the assertion seems wacky to me.) Many years ago in Washington, DC, there was a sports announcer who would say in a loud voice while on air, “Let’s go to the videotape.” Well, gentle reader, let’s go to the YourTango “real” news article.
Will some of those mobile addicts and doom scrolling lovers take the suggestions of the YouTango article? Unlikely. The fellow with lung cancer continues to fiddle around, ignoring the No Smoking sign. Thanks, MSFT Copilot. How’s that Windows 11 update going?
The write up states:
A Gen Z man said he uses TV to ‘unfry’ his brain from endless short-form content — ‘Maybe I’ll fix the damage.’ It all feels so incredibly ironic that this young man — and thousands of other Gen Zers and millennials online — are using TV as therapy.
The individual who discovered this therapeutic use of OTA and YouTubeTV-type TV asserts:
I’m trying to unfry my brain from this short-form destruction.”
I admit. I like the phrase “short-form destruction.”
The write up includes this statement:
Not only is it keeping people from reading books, watching movies, and engaging in conversation, but it is also impacting their ability to maintain healthy relationships, both personal and professional. The dopamine release resulting from watching short-form content is why people become addicted to or, at the very least, highly attached to their screens and devices.
My hunch is that YourTango is not an online publication intended for those who regularly read the Atlantic and New Yorker magazines. That’s what makes these statement compelling. An online service for a specific demographic known to paw their mobile devices a thousand times or more each day is calling attention to a “problem.”
Now YourTango’s write up veers into the best way to teach. The write up states:
For young minds, especially kids in preschool and kindergarten, excessive screen time isn’t healthy. Their minds are yearning for connection, mobility, and education, and substituting iPad time or TV time isn’t fulfilling that need. However, for teenagers and adults in their 20s and 30s, the negative effects of too much screen time can be combated with a more balanced lifestyle. Utilizing long-form content like movies, books, and even a YouTube video could help improve cognitive ability and concentration.
The idea that watching a “YouTube video” can undo what flowing social media has done in the last 20 years is amusing to me. Really. To remediate the TikTok-type of mental hammering, one should watch a 10 minute video about the Harsh Trust of Big Automotive YouTube Channels. Does that sound effective?
Let’s look at the final paragraph in the “report”:
If you can’t read a book without checking your phone, catch a film without dozing off, or hold a conversation on a first date without allowing your mind to wander, consider some new habits that help to train your brain — even if it’s watching TV.
I love that “even if it’s watching TV.”
Net net: I lost attention after reading the first few words of the write up. I am now going to recognize my problem and watch a YouTube video called ”Dubai Amazing Dubai Mall. Burj Khalifa, City Center Walking Tour.” I feel less flawed just reading the same word twice in the YouTube video’s title. Yes. Amazing.
Stephen E Arnold, July 5, 2024
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