Fear makes things memorable, makes it hard to turn away. It's an evolutionary thing.
If my mom calls me after she has been watching that shit, she sounds strung out on stimulants. Agitated, easily angered. She is normally a calm, fairly rational person.
It's fear mongering and it exists because it is effective. If one gets caught up in it, it can be hard to take a step back and realize what is going on. One might hear rationalizations like "I have to stay informed" or "it is related to my work". Very similar behaviour to other addictions.
I'm reminded of Tool lyrics:
"Stare like a junkie
Into the TV
Stare like a zombie
While the mother
Holds her child
Watches him die
Hands to the sky crying
Why, oh why?
'cause I need to watch things die
From a distance
Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies
You all need it too, don't lie
> Occasionally watching terrestrial/mainstream TV is equivalent to dipping your head back into the Cave, except, the shadows no longer make any sense, and yet everyone is entrapped by them. It's noisy, bright and hellish, you can't go back, you're in a different world now.
once you can curate information feeds and investigate topics in depth on demand, not to mention adblocking, watching tv at all feels like a psychic assault
If my mom calls me after she has been watching that shit, she sounds strung out on stimulants. Agitated, easily angered. She is normally a calm, fairly rational person.
It's fear mongering and it exists because it is effective. If one gets caught up in it, it can be hard to take a step back and realize what is going on. One might hear rationalizations like "I have to stay informed" or "it is related to my work". Very similar behaviour to other addictions.
I'm reminded of Tool lyrics:
"Stare like a junkie Into the TV Stare like a zombie While the mother Holds her child Watches him die Hands to the sky crying Why, oh why? 'cause I need to watch things die From a distance Vicariously I, live while the whole world dies You all need it too, don't lie
Why can't we just admit it?"