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James Harleman's avatar

No dual screens at our family/friend movie nights, to respect neighbor and protect brains. Nicholas Carr's book "The Shallows" talks about the damage this is doing to attention spans, critical (deep) thinking, patience, impulse control and more. What's worse is it leads to people pulling out phones while conversing with actual people! If you can't even wait an hour to look up an actor and discuss what they've been in AFTER the movie with your friends, something is wrong. The immediate gratification kills post-show conversation and exploration of these things *together*. On a lighter note, these are the same people who - after the movie - misunderstand character motivations, mistakenly think there are plot holes, etc. NO dude, it's because you were on your phone and not paying attention!

If you occasionally want to dual-screen when you watch alone, go for it. But without moderation, you'll find yourself too addicted to withhold doing it in group settings.

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Kara Dedert's avatar

Attention is a scarce resource and we’re used to very customized and niche content, but that leaves us experiencing our own worlds, even in the same living room! Grateful to find your substack!

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