Efficient Cinema

J when she was younger used to watch the first and last ten minutes of shows on Netflix to catch a CliffNotes version of stuff that others were talking about - so she could contribute in those conversations. She had no interest in most of it and lacked the hours in the day to binge on shows. I am sure her process was efficient but its unlikely she got any value out of it. Netflix has just made it easier for folks like J to get there quickly. 

There's even an "efficiency expert" out there who advises watching at faster speeds to make the most of your viewing time.

"More jokes, more laughs, more drama, more suspense - same time," Michael Kirk, creator of the Efficiency is Everything website, writes. "Efficiency: Like an assembly line, if we increase the speed of the line, we will see more completed.

"Same jokes, same plot, and at 10% faster - you won't notice a difference."

Is the point of entertainment and film-making to get us to the finish line as quickly as possible? The efficiency being described here could do well for a laxative ad. Maybe there is no difference after-all.