Your Brain On Fiction - How the Content You Consume Changes You

[UtopiaPlanitia]

I've been watching this video essay and I think it contains cogent analysis of so many issues that we discuss here on FWR that I decided to create a thread for it for those who might also find it interesting;

Among the topics discussed are the ability of good fiction to help in developing understanding and growth, the negative mental effects of depicted violence, the negative effects of violent porn, the desensitisation and predation of children using porn, analysis of propaganda techniques, the growing lack of ability to distinguish between objective and subjective reality, the potentially cumulative negative effects of explicit content on readers' judgement, the effects of fan fiction and porn on the minds and mental health of children, the media propagating myths of female empowerment that actually benefit men rather than women, the quickness of society to ignore and ridicule women arguing that children are in danger from internet media consumption, and the growing argument that literature should be interrogated on the basis of emotion rather than objectively analysed.

There are many other topics too but the above is listed just to give a flavour of the argument.

Looks interesting, cheers UP

You're welcome. I was pressed for time so I watched it on 1.5 speed but I found it really interesting.

It was also refreshing to hear a woman saying what she thought about these topics on social media and acknowledging that she would continue even if she got criticism for going against the perceived 'correct' frame of analysis.

Thanks Utopia will give it a watch. I’m a voracious reader and I do enjoy science fiction but I’ve certainly noticed in the past that, if I watch/read too much of a certain sort of sci fi it has a depressive effect. I mean heck, if you need the fastest ship/fleet in the galaxy to be a central character what chance have I got unless I utterly immerse myself in fantasy? Just a thought

She's very good. Not watched this one yet, but I've seen a few of her videos and they've always been thought provoking.

You're welcome ☺️

Snap! I've been a voracious sci-fi (and fiction generally) reader since I was a child. I love reading because it takes me out of myself and lets me see life through the eyes of other people. And I've been a fanfic reader for a couple of decades too because I often find the quality of writing/characterisation/lore knowledge can be superior to the official tie-in novels for various sci-fi series. I generally avoid post-apocalyptic tv/films and books because they give me nightmares and I don't enjoy watching people living miserable, hunted lives among the ruins of civilisation and having to dodge zombies or vampires or whatever 🤔

I've noticed a change in the type of sci-fi that's being published in the last decade - it's tricky to find decent hard-science space opera these days. And the rising romantasy trend is doing nothing for me: a friend recommended the ACOTAR series to me and I got it out of the library - I really hated it, I thought it was poorly written but I'm a completionist and when I start something I finish it. My DH pointed out that during the period I was reading ACOTAR my mood was negatively affected and my sleep was disturbed. It was the first time I was really able to see so explicitly that what I read can affect my mood quite substantially. I suppose it hasn't really been much of a problem before because I only read things that I'm fairly sure I'll enjoy. Although, I will admit to reading all of the prequels to Dune written by Herbert's son and they got me feeling very grumpy because I thought they were so poor.

I've also given fanfic a break lately because I keep coming across so many violent or extreme pornographic stories in the RSS feeds from AO3. I also keep seeing a lot more 'Dead dove, do not eat', tags in stories than I remember happening in the past. There's a lot more dark stuff out there than I'm entirely comfortable with. I feel that fanfic has really taken a turn for the worse with the increasing sexualisation of society and media generally.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that when I watched this video essay, a lot of what she had to say chimed with what I'd been noticing myself so it was very helpful to have it given coherent form for me to engage with the issues for myself.

I agree.

She seems to provoke extreme ire though for her argument that certain trends in fiction are potentially generating negative consequences for readers and publishing.

Have you watched Greg Owen's recent video essay about the problems with millennial writing tropes in modern media? It contains some similar arguments.

I would say, there have been a few good breakdowns recently of the romantasy scene, and now, if I hear a young woman saying she's really into reading, I give her the same mental side-eye I would use for a young man who says he's really into watching videos.

I should be at least open to the genre, because I've been into urban fantasy since Kelley Armstrong's Bitten way back when, but she writes novels that would work just as well if you took the shagging out. Whereas if I'm in a bookshop nowadays and look at the fantasy section, it's Tolkien and Game of Thrones, and once you get past them it's female-marketed smut.

Speaking of urban fantasy, have you read the Leandros brothers novels by Rob Thurman - I've loved those books for years. They have a definite Dean & Sam Winchester, 'hunting things and saving people', vibe to them.

I'm very concerned by books (seemingly BookTok crazes & trends) like Morning Glory Milking Farm (if you're squeamish, don't look it up) - books like that are definitely coming from the very weirdest part of the fanfic world and somehow breaking out into the mainstream. I genuinely worry about what mainlining books like that could do to young person's psyche and their view of what constitutes a healthy relationship.

Wordy

Anyone that sits at a desk with a skull and a pint of cappuccino turns me off - sorry. Might be a hugely interesting subject but ‘duh’… am I being overly suspicious? Eee I Eee I AI??

I feel that you’ve done such an excellent job of summarising what she’s saying that I might not need to watch it to agree with her arguments @UtopiaPlanitia

Our brains are incredible organs and so sticky. A literal 10 second ad can stick in our memory and emerge in our dreams. I’ve long thought what we consume shapes us. As our content gets darker, more overtly violently misogynistic, and more extreme in general this will affect us as individuals and as a society.

When we hear about skyrocketing rates of depression and anxiety amongst the young or that anal tears are the most common reason young women seek medical assistance in US college health care centres, I think we should hardly be surprised! Look at the diet of violent negativity that is fed to us, but most importantly and worryingly what is fed/available to our young children.

YouTube ‘recommended’ a video about cannibalism to my DC then age 10. A 10 year old ought not to know about the terrible things humans do to one another. Yet young western teens all casually know about the most extreme sexual fetishes as if they’re nothing. And this is shaping them. It’s meant to.

I don’t believe our brains have evolved to cope with this deluge of (negative) images and messaging in our techno driven capitalist world. And it’s all happened in a blink of an eye evolutionary speaking. It’s worrying.

I’m guessing the skull is nothing more than a nod to Shakespeare. And who knows what is or isn’t scripted by A.I. these days.