The sentiment of 'people should have more hobbies that are not just media consumption' and a better wording of it.

The internet and screens in general have been part of our lives for decades now, and we're part of some of the first generations to actually grow up WITH the internet and not alongside it (like millennials did), and it's definitely had an effect on how we interact with each other and the media we consume.

Short-form content has caused us to immediately get dopamine from doing mindless scrolling and not engaging our brains that anything else that actually causes us to work for the REWARD hormone (dopamine) is sluggish and difficult to do. These social media apps are designed to keep you addicted, scrolling through things one doesn't even like just because you feel like you have to.

(Don't get me started on the people who try to weaponize disabled experiences to defend not consuming any media aside from tiktok/instagram reels or whatever. Just because someone is disabled/neurodivergent doesn't mean they can't watch a long form video or play a video game rather than doomscroll)

Instead of saying media consumption in itself is bad, let's say that UNCRITICAL media consumption is bad. I know people try to say that people should 'just be allowed to exist passively without doing anything' and yeah, that's true. But it's not good for whatever individual is doing that. If someone can't do anything other than consume, then at least consume more mindfully. 

People should go on walks or at least sit on balconies, do at least one non-consuming hobby, and try to pick what they consume more mindfully (I too need to do this). We can still scroll, but we can also try to watch more long-form content, TV shows, and maybe even read more books!!

This is now a blog post! that I can update to my liking :-D