An American researcher believes he knows why characters in film and television rarely look at the screen – NRK Culture & Entertainment

– Can I see screen time?

It seems a bit private, is the question we ask the doctor and associate professor at Høgskolen i Innlandet, Ole Petter Hjelle.

– Hehe, the number is very high because I was watching Netflix on my mobile phone, answers the neuroscientist.

The guy who published books about how much screen time we spend now reads out his screen time in the past 24 hours:

– Here it is written 8 hours and 47 minutes.

Norwegians and screen use

We spend an average of two and a half hours on our mobile phones every day, according to the British Daily Mail Media Barometer from 2022.

Norwegians are all over the internet Four hours a day. Some of us use screens half the day.

Some people spend more than six hours on tablets and mobile phones every day, says Ole Peter Healy.

But the people you follow in movies and TV sit much less often with their faces turned toward the screen, notes John Hunter.

“Protect me from reality!”

The American professor believes that the use of the screen in the most popular films and TV series says something important about how we view our use of the screen.

-We are trapped in a world where we use more screen than we really want. When we want to have fun, we can't afford to be reminded of it, Hunter says.

The researcher, who works at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, investigated the use of screens in popular culture over several years. In 2017, he got one ted talk Where the topic is visited.

– It's no coincidence that we love to watch “Barbie”, “Dune” And “Oppenheimer,” says the American.

Hunter believes we like to see universes and stories from another time or another reality, because then we wouldn't have to deal with a reality that uses as much screen usage as our own.

– The creative DrAnnual TV drama

Neurologist Oli Peter Healy believes Hunter's research into screen use among screen people is gaining traction.

“Maybe we want to watch movies and TV shows that reflect how we wish they were, rather than how they actually are,” Healy says, and points to research that suggests Norwegians want to be less on screen than we manage to be.

The screenwriter of several Norwegian TV series, Jermund Stenberg Eriksen, believes it is clear why the use of the screen in cinema and television does not work.

-You should recognize and like the people you see on TV. You don't want them to sit and look at the screen. Think about how you feel when someone does that in real life, Eriksen says.

-Plus it creates bad TV drama. In a story, something has to happen. When someone sits and looks at their mobile phone, very little happens.

There are examples of mobile phone use in film and television

In the United States, Stenberg Eriksen and Hunter point out that there are many television series where mobile phones are frequently used to create entertainment and drama.

– The Norwegian “shame”, for example, says Stenberg Eriksen.

– In the series “Emily in Paris” on Netflix, Hunter is mentioned.

– There it is used in a smart way. But it still isn't as if Emily is sitting with her face turned toward the screen. As we often do in real life.