This is the explanation I believe.

It would be easy to say "today's movies aren't as interesting as the ones of 20 years ago" but that would be ignoring that I changed in those years - namely, I've seen a lot more movies and read a lot more books and watched a lot more TV.

It would be unsurprising for someone to say "not everything I liked at first still holds up today."

But I apply the same reasoning against my forward-looking watching/reading: "I've seen so much more now that fewer things impress me at first, as I have so much more to compare with."

So a book that's only mildly capturing my attention? I can speed up my reading, skim a bit more over the uninteresting parts. A movie? So much harder!

I have also found this to be the case. I can easily sit down and read something enjoyable for hours on end, but I try to watch a movie and within 20 minutes I'm wishing I was anywhere else. TV shows inhabit a kind of middle ground between the two, they're still tolerable but I find myself enjoying them less over time.

I can't say I really regret this change, I haven't noticed any real downsides. There's too much content and not enough time these days.

What about older movies? I watched movies from the 90s and they were great and able to keep my attention very well. Almost every modern movie though I can barely stay awake for the first 20 minutes..

I think Movies just suck because TV shows are where all the good production is happening.

Making a good and compelling movie is really really hard, and now you can just churn out superhero stuff and make millions or do a TV show and have nearly none of the constraints of cinema.

A lot of modern movies feel like slightly higher budget TV shows. There’s still some truly great stuff, but oftentimes I’m wondering where the 200 million dollars went. I feel like movies are increasingly being made for a TV screen and streaming services, so a lot of the grandiose nature of older movies is fading.

The 90s was an odd period with countless great movies and massive budgets.

same. I wish Amazon would allow rental of a movie for 2 weeks so I could watch a film in small segments. I no longer rent movies at all because often the running time is too much to complete in just 2 days.

I've found myself using speedup controls to watch movies and TV shows faster and it's actually helped me concentrate on them more as there are fewer "lulls" where I'll pick up my phone or something.

It doesn't help that most movies (these days? Always?) are not worthy of attention.

45 years old here. I usually go to the theater for a proper appreciation of the movies (big screen, no solicitations). Last movie I saw was Charlie Chaplin's City lights. Downloaded it for my kids (the exact kind of public for this film). They stayed in front of the TV set for 15 minutes before wanting to play yet another game of Hearthstone. Shame...

Yes, shame! That film is wonderful.

I see that as a pure contextual behaviour. Let's say I switch Internet off and let them watch the same movie, and they will stay focused during the whole 87 minutes.

I remember this start with me in about 2009... used to watch movies all the time, now i can hardly finish 1.