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from the 1984-people-watched-'1984'-yesterday dept.
Netflix tweeted that 53 people had watched its new Christmas film every day for 18 days in a row, highlighting its ability to track the viewing habits of its users:
Netflix has defended a tweet that revealed 53 people had watched its new Christmas film every day for 18 days in a row. "Who hurt you?" read the tweet, addressed to them.
The tweet caused controversy, with some saying it was "creepy" of the platform to keep such close tabs on its audience, and mock their choices. However, others found it entertaining - and unsurprising that Netflix should know what its customers were viewing.
In a statement, Netflix said the privacy of its members was important. "This information represents overall viewing trends, not the personal viewing information of specific, identified individuals," said a representative.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Nuke on Wednesday December 13 2017, @05:34PM (15 children)
I expect my nephew and niece were two of those. They watch the same few films over and over again; I find it mind-numbing. I guess their minds go blank when watching and they like the experience; equivalent to an adult being drunk. When I was a kid I never saw the same film twice - what would be the point? - but that was before DVDs or Netflix.
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Wednesday December 13 2017, @05:41PM (2 children)
A Christmas Story [imdb.com] has been aired nonstop on TNT or TBS [cinemablend.com] from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day since 2002. It's a "tradition". That's not pre-DVD but it is pre-Netflix. Apparently, DVD rentals only outpaced VHS rentals starting in June 2003 [wikipedia.org].
What's my point? I just wanted to drop those factoids.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by frojack on Wednesday December 13 2017, @10:04PM
Well lots of people just turn it on as a backdrop out of nostalgia. Same for the Wizard of OZ, I know a certain grand mother who can recite every line in that film in sequence.
This is too new to be that, but the storyline is bound to be a hook for tweener girls, who will watch over and over to fall asleep at night.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Wednesday December 13 2017, @11:08PM
For the future, may I ask you for the favor to drop them before they hit the page?
Resist the urge, man, you can assert control on yourself.
The Factoid Anonymous is here to help - look around, do see how many AC-es spew shit without providing any citations?
Don't you wish you could be like these normal people? If you try enough, it can happen one day.
(large grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday December 13 2017, @06:45PM (3 children)
I still don't much care to watch the same Movie / Video twice. I do with a few exceptionally good movies / videos, but usually quite some time apart. Unless, I'm watching what the Wife or kiddo wants to watch. Then, it's probably XYZ time having seen X thing. At least there's no Barney or other equal quality thing. Thank you You Tube and Netflix. :-) The Clangers, Sarah and Duck, and Puffin Rock are all much more acceptable. At least I don't feel anything like the horror of seeing an episode of Barney (Thankfully never seen a full episode) or whatever that banana one was.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday December 13 2017, @07:35PM (1 child)
at least you don't have to worry about rewinding a DVD.
The video hire place would charge extra if you didn't rewind before returning a video (yes, VHS, shelf after shelf of VHS)
Our video (player, but did anyone, ever say "video player"?) would sometimes have trouble with old videos - so we'd end up doing it by hand.
Desire to re-watch was offset by a desire to 1. not get a fine (we've rewound it - get it back to the store!) and 2. not to have the tape jammed in the player.
I could dis-assemble our VHS in about 10 minutes to extract tape from the spools - enough practice that I knew I didn't want to repair electronics for living.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 13 2017, @08:03PM
Video player? VHS player? I think VCR was the common thing to say.
But it's all ancient history from a time before dual-core CPUs were common.
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(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 13 2017, @09:55PM
With my memory, watching a movie a second time isn't that much different than watching it the first time.
(Score: 3, Funny) by nobu_the_bard on Wednesday December 13 2017, @07:05PM (3 children)
It is actually not uncommon for young children to do that. Many children in my family rewatch the same handful of movies on a regular basis for a few weeks before getting over it. This is at their own request; not because we just didn't have anything else for them to watch.
I've heard a couple of different theories about why it is, but I haven't done much reading about it, and don't have numbers on hand though.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 13 2017, @11:17PM
I personally have well over 1500 movies. 6000+ individual tv shows. 3500+ CDs. I watch/listen to a lot of the same stuff over and over.
I find it relaxing.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by c0lo on Wednesday December 13 2017, @11:21PM
From times when story books were more common than TV-es - very young kids like to be read the same bedtime story again and again. Do you find it surprising?
Anecdote: about 20-25 years ago, while still in the (non-English speaking) country of origin, the kid (about 4yo) of some friends of mine started to learn English by himself only by watching (again and again) 3 movies from VHS - two of them were Robocop and Mad Max 1 (can't remember the 3rd). Nobody pushed or asked him to, and I reckon he didn't actually set himself "to learn English" as a goal. No only he learned to read (starting from the subtitles), but 3 years later he could watch and understand English movies without subtitles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Mykl on Wednesday December 13 2017, @11:56PM
It's about the pleasure they get from knowing what's about to happen, kind of like how people like to sing along to their favourite songs. It's an important development stage. My kids really struggle not to blurt out spoilers because they want to show everyone that they know what's happening next! This also applies to their friends. Talk about spoilers!
Now that I think about it, why do we enjoy listening to the same songs hundreds of times over, yet pooh-pooh people who want to watch a movie more than once?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Aiwendil on Wednesday December 13 2017, @08:00PM (2 children)
Considering 98%** of the movies are very predictable, what is the point in watching them in the first place?
Currently I'm into my *looks at logs* 16nth run of watching this playlist of Countdown but that simply is because I can't be bothered to decide what music to listen to so I just left the thing on repeat a few days ago.
Kinda like how lots of people use the radio for company or just to control the soundscape, but one advantage with the same thing all the time is that you have no surprises whatsoever.
Oh yeah, it might also be that they found the show less boring/tedious to rewatch that their other offerings of stimulation - or maybe they tried to shut out how the felt, angry adults, creepy visitors or whatever.
** = I watch a lot of indie and art-movies, hence a score lower than 99.8%
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday December 13 2017, @08:13PM (1 child)
OMFG I think you have made this "~99% of movies are bad!" rant before!
No wait, it was these peeps [soylentnews.org].
https://www.theonion.com/area-man-constantly-mentioning-he-doesnt-own-a-televisi-1819565469 [theonion.com]
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by Aiwendil on Wednesday December 13 2017, @10:37PM
Dude, if only 99% of new movies was bad I'd probably bother hooking the antenna up to my TV (currently its primary use is as a secondary monitor).
But in all honesty, a lot of good movies are still being made - primarily in S.Korea and Japan however, with the occasional good thing from Thailand, havn't seen a good US or Euro movie in about half a decade* however (a few good series from that area though, like Rick&Morty). I guess being utterly unimpressed by special effects or big name stars kinda ruins things for me (also, in the west we seem to have lost the touch to make movies that are harsh on the mind - to take something more lighthearted from back when we could take a look at After Hours (1985) by Martin Scorsese)
* = Tucker And Dale Versus Evil (2010), before that the last movies I enjoyed from west was Dead Air (2009), Shrooms (2007), Scenes Of A Sexual Nature (2006), Dirty Boots (2005), Die You Zombie Bastards (2005).. oops, seems to be a pattern.
(Score: 2) by Wootery on Thursday December 14 2017, @02:55PM
You think that rewatching is more likely when there's a huge choice of what to watch?