Television consumption creates dense experience that leaves no memory trace.
Evidence
On the other hand, a second phenomenon that runs contrary to this pattern has hardly been studied. I will call it, following Ariane Barth, the television paradox. Time spent in front of the TV (for instance, watching a crime drama) displays all of the features of short experiential time (high stimulus density, emotional involvement—when the killer arrives or the shooter begins his penalty kick approach, one’s heartbeat, blood pressure, and galvanic skin response change—and the feeling that time is “flying”), but as soon as the TV is turned off, and especially later in memory, it behaves like long experiential time: it “leaves nothing behind.” The remembered time rapidly shrinks, which is why test subjects often report a “great void” after the end of TV consumption that is surprising in light of the high density of experience. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration, 400
Categorization
- recurring: this claim recurs 2 times within its source
- XREF: connects to: Contextless screen experiences erase memory traces, unlike identity-linked ones. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 403; Rich experiences feel short while passing but long in memory. — Hartmut Rosa, Social Acceleration: A New Theory of…, 399; Clip-show culture operates like anterograde amnesia, unable to make new memories — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk: The Collected and Unpublished…, 2426 (+1 more)
Broader Connections
- Clip-show culture operates like anterograde amnesia, unable to make new memories
#expands(0.85) — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2426 - Binge watching is deep engagement, the opposite of channel surfing
#responds-to(0.70) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 1099