Have you noticed how the internet/social media has made age less of a factor when it comes to choice in entertainment and consumption ?

A lot of adults consume media intended children/teenagers.

When I was younger, there was an expectation that you grew out of certain kind of entertainment. Today I see many adults that consume media/items targeted teens and children. Like my mom wouldn't buy a celebrity perfume because it was seen as something meant for teenagers. It was seen as too juvenile to consume and stan popstars or media where the main characters were all teens.

On the flip side, a lot of children today consume entertainment that aren't meant for children. It was much more gatekept before, it was way harder for children to access media that had adult themes. Seeing a movie targeted adults was something you only could access if you owned a physical copy or found it on 123movies.

It's convenient for all the people selling all of this because they can basically sell their product to all ages.

How do you think this affects us ?

There’s no preteen categories anymore, it’s quite sad. Kids go straight from watching Ms. Rachel to watching Love Island

I think it's largely because adults don't "grow up" anymore. They consume the same things they grew up on, like the Disney adults. This is most apparent with millennials, they're kinda stuck in a sense. Because things that were meant for teenagers or young adults, they consume too.

And because of that, there is no teen market. It's just kids and then adults. There's no places for teens anymore. Because again, adults seem to join in.

4 minutes ago, wehavetostan said:

There's no preteen categories anymore, it's quite sad. Kids go straight from watching Ms. Rachel to watching Love Island

**** them kids. They've ruined everything. I'd argue most adult-centered things have been altered to be family friendly. Most forms of entertainment rely on advertisers and shareholders who prefer family friendly things because it brings in more money. Nothing is for adults anymore. I'm sick of these Rugrats being the target demographic for everything.

Edited May 12May 12 by Fleahive

5 minutes ago, wehavetostan said:

There's no preteen categories anymore, it's quite sad. Kids go straight from watching Ms. Rachel to watching Love Island

me going from garfield to saved by the bell to jerry springer/maury every week day morning in the 90s...

I feel the complete opposite... the 2020s internet has been defined by moral panic over "age appropriate content" and demonization of age differences in adult relationships more than anything else

I am so thankful I got to learn about the world through tumblr as a teen before the police state censored it

In the US, I think it has a lot to do with the fact that a lot of us are choosing to not have kids. I've noticed that the friends I have who have kids tend to draw more lines when it comes to age. I think it's because when you have a literal child you're responsible for, psychologically you put yourself in a more rigid "adult" category. One of my closest friends has definitely stopped doing/consuming some of the stuff she used to because she feels like it's "for kids" now. Like before she regularly watched animated movies/TV shows for her own enjoyment, but these days she only watches those things if she thinks her kid will like it, and often she doesn't actually sit down to watch it with her.

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with liking things you liked as a child still, but there has come this weird insistence that because you like something, it has artistic merit or should still be appreciated as an adult. The 'don't yuck someone's yum' crowd has eroded all forms of criticism. I will judge you as a Disney adult (i.e. almost exclusively watching movies for children). If you think Harry Potter is high literature at the grand age of 30 I will question your intelligence. But you're free to like something all the same.

16 minutes ago, wehavetostan said:

There's no preteen categories anymore, it's quite sad. Kids go straight from watching Ms. Rachel to watching Love Island

When I was a preeteen, a lot of people were watching our local version of Love Island, Paradise Hotel.

But it was much more under the radar because it was clear that children should not be watching that kind of stuff and parents had a lot more opinions when it came to what their kids watched.

Yeah even last decade I was shocked at little kids (below 12) watching things like GOT or Attack on Titan

As for adults watching kids stuff, the nostalgia bait that's prevalent in today's age further blur that line since corporations are now obsessed with greenlighting and marketing remakes, prequels, sequels, etc. of old cartoons/animation/shows/movies that were for kids back then but now it's "here's the old kiddie thing you liked but now you can watch it as a nostalgic adult with your own kids so you can make even more money for us!"

16 minutes ago, Fleahive said:

**** them kids. They've ruined everything. I'd argue most adult-centered things have been altered to be family friendly. Most forms of entertainment rely on advertisers and shareholders who prefer family friendly things because it brings in more money. Nothing is for adults anymore. I'm sick of these Rugrats being the target demographic for everything.

let's not forget that "family friendly" means queerphobic, transphobic, and sex-repressed

5 minutes ago, Haze said:

I don't think there's anything particularly wrong with liking things you liked as a child still, but there has come this weird insistence that because you like something, it has artistic merit or should still be appreciated as an adult. The 'don't yuck someone's yum' crowd has eroded all forms of criticism. I will judge you as a Disney adult (i.e. almost exclusively watching movies for children). If you think Harry Potter is high literature at the grand age of 30 I will question your intelligence. But you're free to like something all the same.

I just think that the internet opened up to discussion of all people, which means that the lowest common denominator also has something to say about their favorite media, with the "well, I like it and find it meaningful" argument. It has kind of eroded quality control of a lot of new media.

Before that, media targeted children, pre-teens or teens really had to be outstanding for adults to enjoy them.

the 123movies example is funny because in the 2010s, you could actually find most things online for free

whereas now, they shut've down most grassroots + free media sites, and things are much more gatekept by corporate interests

unfortunately there is not a market for stuff that is made for kids which is a huge shame for Gen Alpha and younger. But now we are shifting back to how it was in the 90s and prior where the average music consumer was an adult, hence why music was more sophisticated back then before the explosion of grunge rock and teen pop in the mid to late 90s.

i understand the point this is making - we are definitely all in some kind of eternal cultural childhood now - but also, the tv used to exist, kids would tape horror films in secret, their parents would watch largely teen led soaps like neighbours, it's always been a cross cultural thing. it's more an exaggeration of something that already existed

it's become more mainstreamed now perhaps because people grew up with pop cultural franchises - star wars, harry potter etc - that they didn't want to let go of whereas that kind of fandom didn't seem to exist so much pre 80s/90s and, ultimately, a lot of us never really grow up properly anyway (hi!), you may as well accept it.

but i don't think that's a bad thing, the notion that everyone has to be a very serious person with very serious tastes is unrealistic and tbh boring, i prefer something fun and i will carry on listening to britney

1 minute ago, Dera said:

let's not forget that "family friendly" means queerphobic, transphobic, and sex-repressed

It's crazy how many people cannot handle sex scenes in movies anymore. I think it's also because *****graphy is so available now that movies cannot sell on having erotic scenes anymore but still, I think it's weird that you're watching a movie with adult people and sex has to be ignored. It's a very normal part of many adult relations.

I feel like this is also a more US thing, many Americans seems to be much more sex appalled than some other places.

4 minutes ago, Dera said:

the 123movies example is funny because in the 2010s, you could actually find most things online for free

whereas now, they shut've down most grassroots + free media sites, and things are much more gatekept by corporate interests

True, but at the same time, those sites weren't as mainstream.

Today, unless you have a children's account, on Netflix and other streaming services, you have all media that targeted +12 and above in one place and only one click away. Which means it's easier for preteens to consume media meant for adults without having to go to some sketchy free movie website with single moms in your area.

They don't quite make shows like Highschool Musical anymore, which was super popular back then. Kids now go watch straight up ****.

Edited May 12May 12 by duybeeGAshantiGA

20 minutes ago, makeawish said:

i understand the point this is making - we are definitely all in some kind of eternal cultural childhood now - but also, the tv used to exist, kids would tape horror films in secret, their parents would watch largely teen led soaps like neighbours, it's always been a cross cultural thing. it's more an exaggeration of something that already existed

it's become more mainstreamed now perhaps because people grew up with pop cultural franchises - star wars, harry potter etc - that they didn't want to let go of whereas that kind of fandom didn't seem to exist so much pre 80s/90s and, ultimately, a lot of us never really grow up properly anyway (hi!), you may as well accept it.

but i don't think that's a bad thing, the notion that everyone has to be a very serious person with very serious tastes is unrealistic and tbh boring, i prefer something fun and i will carry on listening to britney

This! I'm over 30 and I still play Pokémon games, for example. Back then, people would have thought that was weird and childish, but these days it's totally fine. I think it's good that it's like this. There are certainly certain limits, but society used to be way too extreme. Just because I'm an adult doesn't mean that all my interests suddenly change or have to change. I think it's good that music, shows and so on are becoming more universal and that this is becoming more accepted.

12 minutes ago, Soul Grabber said:

It's crazy how many people cannot handle sex scenes in movies anymore. I think it's also because *****graphy is so available now that movies cannot sell on having erotic scenes anymore but still, I think it's weird that you're watching a movie with adult people and sex has to be ignored. It's a very normal part of many adult relations.

I feel like this is also a more US thing, many Americans seems to be much more sex appalled than some other places.

i think it's weird too, esp the way that kind of online prudishness has reduced it all to this idea of "it's all porn it's disgusting". i mean i don't think there's anything wrong with enjoying a sex scene in a movie anyway but you learn things about the characters in them, they tell you about the dynamics of relationships, it has its own justification

it's like a voluntary return to the 50s, (where everyone ended up immediately latching onto anything with sex in it just because of the novelty) and it feels like a very odd target now. but the point about america is very telling and is a real cultural marker that goes back decades, like if janet had gotten her nips out for a microsecond over here it would have been a story for a weekend, in america it was used to destroy her

Edited May 12May 12 by makeawish

56 minutes ago, wehavetostan said:

There's no preteen categories anymore, it's quite sad. Kids go straight from watching Ms. Rachel to watching Love Island

And then they start watching shows like The Pitt with the media literacy skills of a monkey with brain damage.

It's because less people are having children now, it's a shrinking market and they have to keep growing their business. That's why everything from McDonalds, to Disney (and Disneyland), and celebrity makeup and media in general is catered to, or at least inclusive of, adults.

2 minutes ago, Lithium said:

It's because less people are having children now, it's a shrinking market and they have to keep growing their business. That's why everything from McDonalds, to Disney (and Disneyland), and celebrity makeup and media in general is catered to, or at least inclusive of, adults.

Good observation

It's probably also because families with children are more economically challenged now and don't have money to spend on nice-to-have things, and single adults with no children and couples without children have more money for vacations, consumer products, etc.

As a baby millennial/ancient gen z diva, I blame millennials for the "infantilism as an aesthetic/excuse for a personality".

The amount of people in their 30s & 40s being obsessed with Pokemon, Harry Potter, Disney, etc. is insane, which isn't weird at all, except when they dress like children for likes

2 hours ago, Fleahive said:

**** them kids. They've ruined everything. I'd argue most adult-centered things have been altered to be family friendly. Most forms of entertainment rely on advertisers and shareholders who prefer family friendly things because it brings in more money. Nothing is for adults anymore. I'm sick of these Rugrats being the target demographic for everything.

2 hours ago, Khal said:

And then they start watching shows like The Pitt with the media literacy skills of a monkey with brain damage.

It’s not the fault of the kids/preteens. It’s that these companies have shifted from making things for all different age demographics to making things just for adults or just for young very kids.