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I see more and more information about using tablets, smartphones and other devices to augment your TV or movie watching so that you can get real time information, snapshot the screen and talk about it with your friends or more while watching live television. Amazon X-Ray features ability to know who the actors are in a movie instantly at your fingertips, Nintendo TVii allows you to get information on the Tablet Controller and interact with information in real time while watching live TV. Smartglass from Microsoft wants to do the same thing with any tablet / mobile device you own for your Xbox 360.
My question is does the trend of multitasking while you are watching something really mean you are truly watching and immersing yourself in a film or movie? It is one thing for live TV like Sports, Reality Television, but I would think a director for a movie or drama based TV Show puts all this time and effort into having people watch and become one with the film, the distraction and missing small details from your eyes bouncing back and forth from the screen, or attention spans lacking which causes the suspense or build up to be less effective must not be something they are looking forward to.
I also approach movies and good TV Shows like I do books, I like to be immersed in the world the director has created, I become one with the film trying to be as if I am there. I am maybe a little anal about movie watching but I don’t like disruptions, interruptions and I don’t ever use my phone, iPad or any other device while watching a movie or TV Show I like. The only exception again is reality or real time TV where voting and interactivity are part of the event itself.
I also don’t allow my kids to multitask while watching TV but they tend to not already or even ask, as we do movie time as family hour or two where we all sit together and enjoy something, lately we are watching Hercules The Legendary Journey’s episodes on Netflix as our family TV hour when we can find time.
How do you feel about watching TV while you are busy sharing, texting, reading or gathering more info? Is this distraction helping you enjoy the film or is the distraction for making it easier to get through TV Shows and Movies that just can’t hold your full attention for it’s entire duration?
-Justin Germino
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