ABSTRACT

THE PLACE OF RECRETATIONAL SCREEN USE IN THE REPRODUCTION OF

SOCIAL LIFE: THE EXAMPLE OF GENERATION Z

Pınar KARHAN
Department of Cinema and Television
Anadolu University, Graduate School of Social Sciences, May, 2022
Advisor: Associate Professor E. Gizem UĞURLU

The post-Fordist production style, which has changed the dynamics of social life, deeply
affects the entertainment industry with the advanced screen technology developed by it. Video
streaming services make a place for themselves in the culture of daily life by taking part
among the digital endemics of this process. Generation Z, which is compatible with the screen
entertainment that was born and grown in the years when the Internet began to become
widespread, contributes to the popularization of video streaming services designed for
consumption anytime and anywhere. In this study, which investigates the nature of this
contribution, entertainment understanding and practices of the Z generation in Turkey have
been focused on, and the function of digital and affective labor in the reproduction of social
life by interpreting the screen use specific to the video streaming service in the context of the
culture industry has been tried to be determined. For this purpose, the research was carried out
by semi-structured interview technique with 21 participants who were determined according
to the theoretical sampling strategy, who do not have quota problems in internet access and
use at least two video streaming services, including YouTube.

As a result of the research, it has been revealed that entertainment labor, which constitutes the
dynamic of social life, is spent without high awareness; that watching practices create a
demand for the reproduction of similar world views with the relationship of capitalist (video
streaming service) and worker (video streaming service viewer); there is a conscious
audience, even a little; and that that screen entertainment, which has a socializing effect,
occupies a large place in the daily life of the Z generation. Further, "missing entertainment",
"digital entertainment labor", "entertainment laziness", "screen vortex", "flow hypnosis",
"seclusion to the platform", "media shift", "video streaming worker" and 3Ş (work, streaming,
hospitalization) terms have been brought to the literature based on the statements of the
samples.

Keywords: Entertainment, Screen, Video streaming service, Generation Z, Affective labor