Who hasn't fallen under the spell of short reels on social media? The algorithm presents us with a good mixture of funny and shocking films. The latter are responsible for doomscrolling, as people are drawn to supposed dangers. This ensures that we spend hours watching pointless short films. After two hours, you can legitimately ask yourself what the point was. How often has this happened to you in a cinema film? Really good films can change your life, really bad films at least provide material for small talk. Unlike social media "shorts", you can remember afterwards what happened in those hours of your life. This is precisely why cinema films will retain their importance in this millennium. Shared experiences are essential for us humans - and make more rational sense than scaremongering.

At the last "Film Industry Forum" as part of the Media Days Munich the panel participants were introduced by moderator Claudia Lehmann (Maz & Movie) about the most important film in their lives. The answers were as colourful as life itself. What was your most important film moment? Do you remember the films with your first boyfriend or girlfriend, or with your parents when you were a child? Probably all from ages ago and yet more present than the social media clip from a few days ago. The communal experience in particular has a high added value for the group, confirms values and moral norms and creates a social framework that generates a sense of belonging alongside language and constitution. This is precisely why culture is so fundamental to society and its cohesion. The development from the individual to society takes place through community, and cinema is pure community.

Nobel laureate Daniel Kahneman describes the difference between what is experienced and the memory of what is experienced. The last moment in particular remains in our memory. With social media clips, we overcome the urge to watch the next video when a video does not trigger us, i.e. when it is not particularly strong. This may be the reason why we can only remember a fraction of the individual stories afterwards. This is not enough to further develop conscious opinions or stimulate active reflection. However, our brain is trained during continuous consumption using typical learning theory methods. The brain learns through the high repetition frequency of topics and opinions with a similar direction and at the same time the variability of the presentations in different contexts. Truth is created through repetition. At some point, this "knowledge" is so firmly anchored that the human mind is no longer able to question or scrutinise it. 2 plus 2 is then 5 - simply because "you know it" and therefore don't do the maths. Anyone who has tried to have a fact-based discussion with a person affected recognises that this simply makes no sense.

Thanks to technological possibilities and the monetary incentives of the various content offerings, we are experiencing how previous havens of value are being replaced. Churches, clubs, theatres and cinemas are losing share in the competition of the attention economy. German television content and Cinema films are suitable for stabilising our values and therefore our democracy as a whole. It is in everyone's interest to maintain the functionality of these elementary foundations.

For this reason: Go to the Cinemawatch (classic) television and bring your creative power into this system.

Your Markus Vogelbacher

and the Ensider:Team

Image: Adobe Stock Footage