jdslater1

I have a 6 month year old girl. Before her arrival I would perhaps visit the cinema every other month or so. I work shifts so I have all the time in the world or no time at all.

In my late teens/twenties I would watch loads of films. I was into asian action films, manga, B+W thrillers, B-movie sci-fi, everything.

Nowadays. I cannot keep my concentration on a film at home for more then 10 minutes and my hands start getting itchy for my ipad. I have Netflix and Amazon Prime. I have a very nice bluray collection but I dont have the time to put anything in the player.

Does anyone else have this problem?
I still love films but where I would see a wide range of films at the cinema now its just the big titles and what I can catch on my iphone on the way to and from work.

hanshotfirst1138

I have ADHD anyway, but yes, when I was a teen, I had to search much harder for films since Netflix and streaming weren't around yet, so there was more urgency and challenge, but I devoured almost everything I could find. Nowadays, and it's partially the culture in which we live where everything is increasingly fragmented, I find my attention drifting more frequently. Lots of my passions also seem to have cooled, though I'm more inclined to blame this on personal problems and depression and apathy than on films. I just feel dulled to a lot of things nowadays. That said, it's obviously going to be much harder to have any kind of hobby when you have domestic responsibilities and actually adult problems. It's a cop-out to blame the culture though-I could also exercise some self-control once in a while and put my iPhone away. Part of it is also an age thing. It's a shame it's STILL so hard to get a hold of so many Hong Kong action flick. When I was teenager, I was the perfect age to fall for slow-mo bloodshed, or gialli, anime, sci-fi Spaghetti westerns, genre pieces, and so forth. That kind of comfort food with subtle deviations was perfect for my attention span. Nowadays, I've advanced in age and become much more critical-minded-what is the theme of this film, it's politically dubious, this has bad editing-and I think that plays a part in it too. When I was young, everyone told me I didn't get it, and was too young to even understand mortality, but I insisted that I did. I didn't, of course. Time's a bitch.

Sorry. Digital therapy .

mh4268

If I am at a theater with my cell phone turned off I have no problem. I will admit if I am the ONLY person in the theater I may pull out my phone, but that is a rare thing.
I find my biggest problem now is trying to watch a movie at home, I have too many distractions. Right next my couch I have my laptop and in my pocket my cell phone, I find myself quick looking up something on my computer or phone every 15 minutes. Foreign films are near impossible. It's a shame.

GoldenJCJ

While I certainly don't have the time I used to have to watch movies I can honestly say that I have no problems tucking my cell phone away for two hours without feeling the urge to pull it out and fiddle with it. I actually consider it a nice little break from answering texts and phone calls or mindlessly surfing the net.

Obi-Wanma

Sometimes I'll have the TV on mainly as background noise while I fiddle with my laptop or something, but if I'm actually watching something, I have absolutely no problem putting all my other toys away.

rexinnih

I try to watch as many movies as I can but with two young kids, I find myself falling asleep halfway through movies that I start after I finally get those nuclear powered things to sleep. Damn getting older and get off my lawn!

hbilly

Not sure if it has to do with getting older but I noticed that I easily fall asleep watching a slow burning/paced movie. Peter Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock used to be a favorite of mine that I have watched many many times. I bought the (European) Blu-ray last year and the movie put me immediately to sleep. Like, I was out like a light. It is still a beautiful and haunting movie, but the snail pace (plus Gheorghe Zamfir's soothing pan flute muzak) is literally killing me.

TomOpus

Nope, I'm still good.

Jaymole

I don't own a cellphone, so I do not know what that is like, although seeing how people get addicted to it I am trying my best to keep myself cellphone free as long as I can.

I do notice I can't watch as many films in a day as I use to. When I was younger i could do 5 or 6 in a day....now 3 is my max. I will also fall asleep more often during a movie, even if I like it.

Solid Snake

Yep. Once in a while I won't know wtf I'm in the mood for but...that happens sometimes. Not a big deal.

TomOpus

Yep, I used to spend 20 minutes looking at my collection trying to figure out what to watch.

Dr. DVD

I used to travel about an hour to see the more artsy kind of movies in the theater . I now only make that kind of trip for an IMAX viewing of an event movie. Granted, more art-house type movies come to the area in which I live now than where I did when I was into the stuff, but I no longer make trips to see the material. I have also gotten to the point where I enjoy movies more for entertainment than art as I have gotten older. Don't know if that is common or not.