I recently learned about the term “Second Screen.”

It describes a kind of TV made to be watched while you’re also on your phone.
(Think: easy-to-follow dialogue, minimal visual complexity, no real consequences for tuning out.)

And I’ve noticed I’m getting trained by it.

I’ll start a show like Matlock or Industry with the intention of paying attention.

By the final episodes, I’m just listening to it on my phone while I make dinner. My phone is in my pocket.

And honestly, it seems like nobody making it expected me to do otherwise.

This isn’t just about TV.
The same companies making second-screen shows are also making movies.

And it’s getting harder and harder to trust that a film — even a good one — is going to reward your full attention, let alone require it.

So we stop giving it.

We default to “I’ll just put it on.”
We see a 2.5-hour runtime and assume we’ll need to multitask.
We get used to watching things once — and never again.

I briefly considered going to see Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery in the cinema — partly because I’ve been a Josh O’Connor fan since God’s Own Country.

But then I saw the runtime: 2.5 hours.

And look — I’m not opposed to long films. But a 2.5-hour Netflix movie often signals something else:

That’s the thing.

It might be good! But the way it’s presented already assumes I’ll be half-watching — and that shifts how I relate to it before I’ve even pressed play.

And that’s a shame.

Because some films are worth more than one viewing.
Some films offer more each time.

Those are the ones I keep returning to.

They’re the ones I write books about.

They're the ones I build programs around — like The Long Take and a new project I’ll launch in 2026, called The Deep Focus, which zooms in on a single film (or two).

Because when a film actually earns your attention — not just once, but over and over — it gives you something back.

A kind of intellectual and emotional hit that’s hard to describe.

Studying the film becomes half the fun.

And once you’ve felt it, you start wondering where you can find it again.

👉 Have you seen anything recently that made you want to give it a second watch — or felt like it deserved more than one look?

I’d love to hear.

Alex