Is Modern Entertainment Making Us Emotionally Numb?

In an age where entertainment is just a tap away, we’re consuming more stories, images, and music than ever before. But with this abundance comes a curious question:

Are we feeling more, or are we feeling less?

We’re surrounded by endless entertainment—streaming platforms, short videos, emotional series, shocking twists. But with so much content flooding our screens, are we actually feeling less? It seems like tragedy, violence, or heartbreak on screen rarely moves us the way it used to. We watch shows about death, trauma, or mental health, and move on without pause.

Maybe we’ve grown emotionally numb—not because stories lack emotion, but because we’re overwhelmed by it. When every episode is a heavy emotional ride, it becomes easier to disconnect than to absorb. Add to that the way we consume content—1.5x speed, multitasking, endless bingeing—and we rarely give ourselves time to process what we see.

There was a time when stories unfolded slowly, letting emotion build naturally. Now, everything fights for our attention. In trying to feel everything, maybe we’ve stopped feeling anything deeply.

Still, great stories are being told. Maybe the issue isn’t the content, but how we engage with it. Are we too overstimulated? Too distracted? Or has the emotional bar just been raised?

Do today’s films and shows still move you? Or are we becoming passive viewers in a world that never stops playing?

Let's discuss.

Hii @shirazikira!!! Nice to see you on the forum! 😊😊 I can't write a lot now but i think it depends on how much you want to watch and if you are super busy with other things too. For example i like watching sometimes korean series on Netflix and Viki and other times something funny like MAFS or a docu that i like or my mom also likes street food series on youtube so i watch sometimes too. But i dont watch every day bc i dont even have time for that if you also want to do other things. But if you watch binge like 5 episodes or more it can be a problem but not if you dont even watch every day.

And also my mom likes sometimes to watch also older chinese series but they can also be really emotional like newer korean series on netflix for example. But my mom also falls asleep sometimes watching an episode so she is not overwhelmed! 😛 But that is different of course. 🙂

Yes we're definitely overstimulated, constant bursts of dopamine act as a drug on the brain and we lose the ability to focus in the long term. I would say that it's not that we're "feeling less", but we're addicted to having emotions regardless of their "quality".

Did you write your post with ChatGPT? 😛

Yea, I have idea what to ask, but I could not make some impactive sentences to convey, so I took help of chatGPT. You are right about being not feelingless, but there are lot of stuff on various channels globally, and all are busy to get something aimlessly.

There is a fair answer for your question in the book The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky: "“And therefore the idea of serving mankind, of the brotherhood and oneness of people, is fading more and more in the world, and indeed the idea now even meets with mockery, for how can one drop one's habits, where will this slave go now that he is so accustomed to satisfying the innumerable needs he himself has invented? He is isolated, and what does he care about the whole? They have succeeded in amassing more and more things, but have less and less joy.”

We aren't emotionally numb but intellectually dumb.

In an age where entertainment is just a tap away, we’re consuming more stories, images, and music than ever before. But with this abundance comes a curious question:

We’re surrounded by endless entertainment—streaming platforms, short videos, emotional series, shocking twists. But with so much content flooding our screens, are we actually feeling less? It seems like tragedy, violence, or heartbreak on screen rarely moves us the way it used to. We watch shows about death, trauma, or mental health, and move on without pause.

Maybe we’ve grown emotionally numb—not because stories lack emotion, but because we’re overwhelmed by it. When every episode is a heavy emotional ride, it becomes easier to disconnect than to absorb. Add to that the way we consume content—1.5x speed, multitasking, endless bingeing—and we rarely give ourselves time to process what we see.

There was a time when stories unfolded slowly, letting emotion build naturally. Now, everything fights for our attention. In trying to feel everything, maybe we’ve stopped feeling anything deeply.

Still, great stories are being told. Maybe the issue isn’t the content, but how we engage with it. Are we too overstimulated? Too distracted? Or has the emotional bar just been raised?

Do today’s films and shows still move you? Or are we becoming passive viewers in a world that never stops playing?

Let's discuss.

In my opinion we do too much on a day, we process too much and don't give ourselves the time to fully understand what we say, feel or think. Even writing this message, I don't feel connected to my emotions. It's as if it's something I must do as quickly as I can, so I can move onto the next thing I planned. When slowing down, I feel more connected to my emotions, but I usually feel pressured a lot to achieve something, so I am in a constant hurry. Only when slowing down, I feel again. And A LOT. Because I haven't taken the time to feel what I've experienced before. If we honestly take the time to process, we still do feel a lot. We just need to stop this constant rush of willing to achieve. What do you think about this?

I think choosing what to watch, listen to, read, focus, etc. can counter this fight for attention.
The main problem is not that there is too much, there always was too much for a person. I mean, even 60 years ago you wouldn't have been able to read or watch everything there was. The problem is that now stuff is actively pushed in front of our eyes and ears all the time. These kinds of products are studied to elicit emotions, to try to hook you, pushed by algorithms designed to make people addicted to them. Obviously one can only lose.
I think the key is to not fight this fight, eliminating the middle man, so algorithms, ads and whatnot.