Second Screen Viewing is a new term for me but not a new phenomenon.
I have been guilty of checking my phone whilst watching television - I sometimes check the latest score when Liverpool are playing but then put my phone back away.
My wife on the other hand has gone through whole films sat next to me, looking at her screen and asking why something just happened? or why did they say that or when did that happen?
It can be very frustrating for me to experience this - having someone else in the room on their device does pull your attention slightly away from what you are doing or paying attention too. And this phenomenon is not localised to the living room either.
An American university found that if someone in the lecture theatre has a device (to type up the lecture notes hopefully!) it has a dramatic affect on other peoples concentration and affects long term memory. So much so that after the research was completed - the university banned all devices from the lecture theatre and students had to revert to hand writing their notes.
What is Second Screen Viewing?
Second Screen Viewing is defined as a person watching a tv programme or film whilst scrolling on their personal device.
I know most people will have done or seen this. I have seen it in movie theatres and couldn’t believe it. Why pay money and set an intention to watch a film and then sit on your phone or keep checking it every few minutes? It baffles me.
If you do it at home it might not be considered to be as big a deal - but I think it should be.
If you have an intention to sit and watch a show or film then you should fix your full attention on it. Multi-tasking is not a thing people can do not matter what they tell you.
Splitting your attention is not good for you, its not a great example for your children and if watching it with someone else, highlights that they and the film are not that important to you - it is a version of Phubbing (the practice of ignoring one's companion or companions in order to pay attention to one's phone or other mobile device - from a google search)
Hollywoods answer
Jameela Jamil - the actor from shows The Good Place and face of E4 shows in the UK mentioned this in a clip my wife showed me.
She discusses that some scripts and plots are being dumbed down so that people who are second screen viewing can follow the story.
The evidence for this actually happening is anecdotal at the moment as no one has come out to say that they have been asked to do this by TV of film execs. But, knowing how people are, how people want to protect their projects and make sure they are seen by as many people as possible - can you possibly say that these things haven’t been discussed at some point and that some execs aren’t planning their projects around this - even just a little?
It reminds me of the scene in Scrooged (1988) with Bill Murray when Robert Mithcum asked him to put some mice in the show so that cats have some reason to watch and in the future, channels dedicated to cats or dogs should be made as they are steady viewers they are missing out on.
Now this seemed outlandish at the time and is a joke in the script but there is a channel dedicated to dogs called Dog TV and there are YouTube channels for cats also (CatTV?) - does that mean that second screen adaptations are 100% not being considered?
As far as I can see - no writer has come out saying that they have been asked to write to accommodate this phenomenon and some have even come out saying that it is just journalistic conjecture.
But is there smoke without fire?
Hollywood and American TV has been guilty of making things a little simpler to understand for certain audiences and territories in the past. Sometimes it is linked to language and translation - others is to make it more understandable or palatable to get bums on seats.
One of the most notable is Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone - both the book and film is known as The Sorcerers Stone in the US. Why? Because the marketers thought Sorcerer was easier for the American audience to understand and had a clearer message linking it to magic. (Apparently America youth aren’t familiar with alchemy enough to get what the philosophers stone was? Even if you weren’t you would be once you read the book…isn’t that part of the joy of reading or watching - finding out what it is.)
Another example of title changes is the Tom Cruise/Emily Blunt film Edge of Tomorrow - originally titled All you need is Kill from the manga comic it was based on. They added Live.Die.Repeat as a tagline later on to explain the film more.
(I personally loved the All You Need is Kill title as was disappointed when it was renamed! Marketers again got involved as they thought Kill was too violent…well duh!)
Whether they are right or wrong about the market (judging by the success of the Potter books and films I think they underestimated the intelligence of the American youth) they decided to essentially dumb down the title.
Those same execs will absolutely be concerned about viewing habits and will absolutely be thinking how to engage audiences knowing that the phone will have a bigger pull than their average formulaic teen vampire fantasy/Saved By the Bell remake.
Have you noticed a dumbing down of plots?
Do stories now need less attention to keep up with the story?
Will we see series like Twin Peaks ever again? Something so out there and bonkers that keep you enthralled despite being difficult to get to grips and keep up with?
Will films with a heavy philosophical basis like The Matrix likely be made again without heavy changes to the script?
My personal thoughts are that there have always been shallow and deep plots but they have been affected more by the quality of the writing, the show runners ability and the audience they are wanting to reach. Make it too intellectual then it becomes more niche and less people will watch it…make it easy and the likelihood is more people will watch.
Reality TV is a prime example - you don’t need a degree to follow that and most people on the show struggle to spell the word degree too. I think these shows do so well because people can switch off while watching it and only need to check in every so often to see some oiled up abs or bottoms or a bit of drama to drag their value from it.
I don’t have a problem with people wanting to watch the television shows they enjoy - if you like MAFS (Married at First Sight) or Love Island then great…go ahead and enjoy it.
But if you are watching these programmes or any programmes whilst looking at your phone, I personally believe that you are doing the show and yourself a disservice.
You are not allowing yourself to be fully in the moment or even allowing yourself to be bored. It may be the case that you are only watching that programme because you get to enjoy something else on your phone and in reality you dislike the programme?
Splitting your attention with any activity is never good. You are reinforcing that you can’t sit and focus on one thing for a decent length of time.
This can affect your ability to communicate with peers, to focus whilst at work or driving, or to fully interact with your children to give them the attention they want and need to develop.
Identifying what is truly important in your life and how you want to feel could be your next step?
Give it a try - leave your phone in a different room or in a cupboard - somewhere where it takes a little effort for you to get up and choose to scroll. That could be enough so that you can sit and truly enjoy the programmes you are watching.
What are your thoughts on this?
Are you concerned about the quality of films and TV?
Have you noticed your own attention being dragged away by a device?
Do you feel a twitch when the adverts come on just to quickly check your phone?
Do you notice that same twitch any time you are feeling bored or at a bus stop, as a passenger, or waiting for the school pick up?
Have you felt like you haven’t got enough time in a day to do something or enjoy something creative?
Are the terms Brain Rot and Bed Rot synonymous with each other?
Let me know your thoughts on this. I firmly believe that we are being slowly turned into device junkies and that more mindful use of our devices will serve our lives for the better.
You choose when to use the device - don’t let it choose for you.
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TV shows just aren’t as good as they were 5 years ago but that’s just my humble opinion, and the second screen phenomenon absolutely contributes to it. This is why I still go to the cinema rather than have a Netflix subscription - I only resubscribe to stuff like Netflix or Disney+ when I want to rewatch something (for example, rn i’m rewatching Glee on the latter but when I’m done, I’ll cancel the subscription).
Great piece. I'm fascinated by efforts to look in more varied places for the impact of the phone. I have to say - TV producer speaking here - it's definitely the case that my industry is fully preoccupied with dealing with a distracted mind. The first time I heard about the concept of "second screen" was from a TV commissioner who was trying to factor it into the way the show was designed.