Make movies that are engaging enough to keep people from checking their feeds while they wait for something to happen.

I find shows and movies that show something happen clearly and then restate it in the dialogue immediately quite annoying. Very common in anime.

Make content that makes people put their phones down.

This is what kills any articles on the web. The first three paragraphs repeat the question you're looking to get answered and the last paragraph vaguely answers it.

I feel like an old person now but I've started watching movies from the 90s/2000s and I can't believe how much worse movies have become over the years.

Writer insight : if people start pulling their phone when they should be watching your movie, it means your movie is shit, not that it should be made even sloppier. Watered down shit is still a shit cocktail.

Is that why the last season of Stranger Things spent half the season rehashing how all the characters had felt about anything ever throughout the previous four seasons?

Why? What the fuck do they care as long as people watch it?

Make good stuff, and people will come.

I wouldn't have my phone out to begin with Netflix if you didn't start adding ads.

It’s the big tech social media disease.

Everyone, frigging everyone who steps away from fb/insta/twittler/yt/tiktok/… says the same “holy shit my mind is so peaceful all of a sudden.” And somehow it’s not substantially part of the daily discourse. Somehow between that and EVERYTHING else these mfrs are responsible for (protecting pedos, encouraging insurrections, …) just flies.

It’s a disease, an addiction, a plague and we gotta start naming it as such. Talk to your loved ones and carefully try to get them off that shit.

Or we are on our phones because the movies repeat their themes over and over and over again

It's not just me, right? Modern movies and shows have less things happen in same duration of time.

Can't believe how prescient this movie was. We're on our way!

Bad movies need to do this. You know, the average movie Netflix signs off on.

I think Netflix manufactured this problem first. Originally they were going for volume so they added a lot of padding to their og shows. To the point I stopped watching (torrenting) any Netflix originals. So people got in the habit of doing other stuff while waiting for the plot to start moving again. Now they claim that their shows are meant for second screens. Motherfucker: we are in the golden age of TV, so there's plenty of engaging content being produced. Marvelous Mrs. Maisle is so fast paced and brilliant I never felt the need to pick up my phone.

Talk about the wrong response!

If they want people to not look away or do something else while the movie is playing you gotta keep it interesting.

Ya know, like perhaps making movies that aren't just rehashes of the same old stories.

Make movies and shows that keep people on their toes!

Making a crime drama? Throw in some traveler from the future or a demon or both! Give the judge two heads because of a "merging accident" or something!

Putting together a horror movie? Throw in some romance among the monsters! Have them feed each other eyeballs or something!

Making an anime? Try something totally radical! Like a male protagonist with non-dark hair that has a personality, or make a couple—in love—who get stuck somewhere together, alone have actual sex (like normal teens would) or something!

Making a K-drama? Add a black guy and make him one of the main characters... Haha, just kidding! That would be too radical! That'd be just as extreme as making an anime that covers the time period a few years after "the hero" formed his harem!

You could absolutely do it in a funny way like Kronk (Emperors New Groove) or Luis (Ant-Man).

Now I'm curious, am I checking my phone after they've repeated the same thing 3 or 4 times and now I'm bored / annoyed?

I think I read a different article about this months ago!

For some reason I’m kind of surprised to hear about it again because not a lot of people seem to talk about it.

The amount of reciprocal effort art is socially allowed to demand from the audience changes. The art form gets refined and people respect that and are willing to invest more attention, then at some point it's opera and nobody goes because it requires too much attention and respect. Netflix might suck but on the other hand Christopher Nolan is making movies with inaudible dialogue and Game of Thrones has invisible fight scenes because they got out of hand with it and think they can demand you only watch their thing alone in a soundproof HDR screening room.