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Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

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Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#211

Post by Fnoord »

neals wrote: post #5

I accidentally watched some TV the other day. Having not seen any regular programming for at least a year, I was amazed at how much ... dumber it has become. Also, why did we sit through so many commercials for so long? It feel a little like a twilight zone episode, where we sit there watching a box telling us what to buy.

Try surfing without your adblocker for a moment (or if you don't use one: try surfing with one for a moment). You'll see a whole different WWW than what you're used to. Including websites like YouTube and news sites being referred to from HN.

With Netflix, you pay for an all you can eat sub without commercials. Newssites and newspapers should do the same. It allows for two viable ways to pay for content: either paying directly, or paying via advertisement/your time.

The old model of e.g. cable TV is akin to having one's cake and eat it too. Its outdated, and superseded. The only reason it still exists is because the legacy is being used due to habit ie. people who don't know yet about on-demand services like Netflix. Probably tons of babyboomers + elder. If we want to put the nails in the coffin, we gotta 1) unsub to cable TV as much as we can 2) not use it as much as we can 3) stimulate and help these lagging groups to get on with the program.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#213

Post by manishsharan »

kaybe wrote: post #176
manishsharan wrote: post #113

On the other hand, Kids in Netflix only homes are probably not exposed to news and world events that does not come from Facebook and Twitter and other filtered media. They are probably not exposed to opposing or uncomfortable opinions and views. Those Netflix only homes should at least get PBS.

I'd argue that news is not for kids, unless it is specifically tailored to them (eg the German public kids TV channel has special kids news (and no ads)). It is easier to learn about the world's problems from less explicit sources. News can be worse than horror films, which are at least known to be fictional.

I would take a more nuanced approach: I agree that Kindergardeners are probably better off without news. But maybe 2nd graders and up should be exposed to the news . Most of the images on evening newscasts are normally sanitized ; they are definitely not at par with horror films. Filtering out images of hunger, poverty and suffering will lead to a ignorance and denial about these issues when they grow up.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#214

Post by Cyphase »

aviv wrote: post #198
drdrey wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No offense but you sound like my aunt who would tell me all the time that video games would make me stupid. But I wouldn't be working in tech today if it wasn't for my passion for video games. (note: I also limit screen time for my kids)

No offense but you went from consuming video games that make people stupid to producing video games that make people stupid and that's a success story? That's like my kids getting a job at the production company of Dora The Explorer and me thanking all the 980 hours a year on average they wasted on TV consumption.

> No offense but you went ... to producing video games that make people stupid ...

Where did the GP say they make video games? Maybe they do, but I don't think you know, and you shouldn't assume.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#215

Post by CaptSpify »

viraptor wrote: post #187
nuclearchicken wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

uBlock Origin and similar other add-ons, plus some hostfile entries largely mean I don't see any ads anywhere. I also block them on my router for extra diligence. They simply don't get called. The way it's supposed to be.

Ublock doesn't cover mobile devices though. And even if you block it on the router, once you leave the house it's only available via vpn. And if you're going that far and making it available for your whole family and are on the hook for support... Maybe it's easier to just pay a few bucks a month. (Unless you're really enjoying doing it by hand, I guess)

> Ublock doesn't cover mobile devices though

It does on FF for Android!

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#216

Post by lostlogin »

flavor8 wrote: post #181
dexterdog wrote: post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're watching it in syndication it's probably either cut or sped up (or both) to squeeze in even more commercials. The intro and credits combined are about a minute on that show as most 30 minute shows are. I don't complain about the speeding too much as I watch most shows are 1.5x and cut out the commercials so a show with 18 minutes of content takes 12 minutes.

I could see speeding up shows to 1.5x if I was a reviewer and was watching them for work. But speeding up your entertainment seems strange to me. It'd be like ordering French Laundry to go.

For those with a level of cultural awareness like mine, French Laundry seems to be a flash restaurant in Napa valley, California.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#217

Post by brunoc »

telekid wrote: post #190
labster wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, the commercials are the best part of watching The Big Bang Theory . Much better to spend a few minutes imagining how cool I would be if I just owned Product X rather than see a nerd minstrel show with an annoying laugh track.

…really? "Nerd minstrel show?" Ah yes, we poor nerds, overcoming centuries of repressive awkwardness and desk jobs.

I stole this from someone else, but I can’t remember who. BBT is what stupid people think smart people are like.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#218

Post by kbenson »

jacobolus wrote: post #206
telekid wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

…really? "Nerd minstrel show?" Ah yes, we poor nerds, overcoming centuries of repressive awkwardness and desk jobs.

Maybe an analogy in poor taste, but the premise of BBT is basically “look how many negative stereotypes of scientists and engineers we can get our audience to point and laugh at, if we take our lazy awkward mean-spirited writing and put a laugh track over the top”. Try searching for versions with laugh track removed to get a better sense of the writing per se without the extra emotional manipulation. Compare with Sil…

I never really watched much of it, but this PA comic[1] from a few years back clued me into this. I can't say I disagree (even if I've known plenty of nerds that like Big Bang Theory). Sterotypes often have some truth to them, to lesser and greater degrees, but that doesn't mean playing them up to an extreme degree for laughs is something we should necessarily encourage.

1: https://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2013/01/21/royalty

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#219

Post by scrollaway »

scarface74 wrote: post #153
scrollaway wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Product placement in series and movies really break my heart, because it plain and simply taints the piece forever. When it's released, sure, okay, so you do your product placement and get some extra cash to finance the series. Fine. But now, your series which hopefully is good enough to still be watched 20 years, 30 years from now has characters randomly bringing up how they drive an Audi and did you see that builti…

I find just the opposite to be disconcerting. Back in the day, Some procedural cop show was talking about "FacePlace" as a stand in for Facebook. Then again it sticks out like a sore thumb to me when shows you IP addresses that can't be valid....

I don't mind product placement if it's on topic. For example, using Google or Facebook when relevant or showing the brand logos of the PCs in an office.

It's when they take the time to show off their completely irrelevant windows tablet or car navigation system or worse. When it's blatant.

Re: Kids in ‘Netflix Only’ Homes Saved from 230 Hours of Commercials a Year

#220

Post by wutbrodo »

viraptor wrote: post #58
Spooky23 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the “Frosty the Snowman” special on live TV ran almost 90 minutes... the commercials were agonizing. Also, kids are consuming a lot of highly effective YouTube ads.

Getting rid of adverts on yt for all family is $10/mo, which I'm thinking is not that crazy. It's also a part of Google music family subscription for $15/mo - you get YouTube Red included.

I've had Google Play Music for a lot longer than YT Red was bundled with it. When they introduced it, I mostly shrugged: pre-roll ads don't really bother me, especially skippable ones.

But it turns out YouTube was the last source of dynamic (i.e., not image/text) ads in my life, and now when on the rare occasion that I accidentally open YouTube in my work Chrome profile, I'm surprised at how averse I've become to dealing with even the tiny load lag + few-second wait for a pre-roll. I've considered switching to Spotify, since Google Play Music seems to be one of those life-support products that PMs within Google make their promotions off of through useless UI churn instead of fixing longstanding issues, but at this point, YT Red is what stops me from doing so.

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