Does the wind of short dramas blow to the spiritual needs of the "silver haired track" or a consumer trap?
2024-11-05
Flash marriage spouse, cleaning mother, Fifty Boss... I thought it was just leisure time to relieve boredom, but I didn't expect to fall into the "deep pit of love". Not long ago, the short drama "Cleaning Mom Returns Endlessly" went viral on the internet, and was jokingly referred to by netizens as the representative work of "middle-aged and elderly Mary Sue" due to its exaggerated plot and endless twists and turns. With the increasing popularity of elderly version sweet pet short dramas, topics such as "parents addicted to watching short dramas", "elderly people falling into the trap of short drama consumption", and "short drama content orientation being too bizarre" have also been widely discussed by the public. With the continuous increase in the number of elderly internet users in our country, the "precise grasp" of short dramas on the elderly population has shown the public the undeniable consumption power of the silver haired generation, and also exposed the urgent need for network aging adaptation. A 40 year old hotel cleaner was cleaning his room when he suddenly noticed a 20-year-old young man taking a shower in the bathroom. Due to being drugged with a hypnotic drug, the man dragged the cleaning lady into the bathtub, and then the two of them locked eyes and hugged and kissed each other... This is the opening plot of the recently popular short drama "A Woman at Forty is Getting Pregnant". The inverted age difference, deliberate character design, and melodramatic plot have caused online topics such as "domestic short dramas have gone crazy" and "elderly short dramas harvesting parents' wallets" to repeatedly flood the hot search list. According to data, the popular short drama "Flash Marriage Couple is a Rich Family" once topped the charts for five consecutive days, with a total of 500 million views after only half a month of release. In the eyes of some netizens, some popular elderly dramas are filled with various flaws. In "The Endless Return of the Cleaning Mother", a middle-aged cleaning lady and a young tycoon discuss marriage, but the plot twists repeatedly, and the cleaning lady turns out to be the world's richest person; In "The Gift of the Mother in Law", the unmarried daughter-in-law misunderstands the "young and beautiful" mother-in-law as the "lover" of the CEO's husband, and after humiliating her to the extreme, the mother-in-law reveals her identity as the mysterious chairman behind the scenes of the group... They target the "sunset red" group and attract the attention of the elderly. Some netizens joked that the style of the short drama ultimately reached the "silver hair track". According to data from iResearch Consulting, the proportion of users aged 40 to 59 in the micro drama market in 2024 is as high as 37.3%, and the proportion of users aged 60 and above is also 12.1%. According to the latest data released by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, as of the end of 2023, the population aged 60 and above in China has reached 297 million. At the same time, the proportion of the elderly accessing the Internet is also increasing. According to the 54th Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet, the elderly aged 60 and over account for 20.8% of the new Internet users in the first half of 2024. The elderly trapped in short dramas have caused worries for their children at home, as their addiction to short dramas is both "exhausting" and "damaging". Netizen Wang Lu told reporters, "I used to think that the elderly were quite bored at home and could watch whatever they wanted. But I didn't expect that since she became obsessed with short dramas, my mother stayed up late all day to use her phone, and sometimes she was still online at one or two o'clock in the morning. Her eyesight was already poor, and now her overall mental state is getting worse and worse." What worries some children more is the consumption patterns hidden in various short drama platforms. The reporter searched for "short drama" on the Black Cat Complaints Platform and found nearly 2000 related complaint information. Ms. Lin, a netizen, discovered that her father subscribed to nearly 60 mini programs and recharged over 9000 yuan in two months in order to watch short dramas. Many of these purchases were made without the elderly person's knowledge. Upon closer inspection, it was discovered that they were automatic renewals and ad redirect subscriptions. If they want to protect their rights, they either lack regulatory channels or customer service directly refuses on the grounds that 'virtual products cannot be refunded' Ms. Lin said. The triple hidden worry of "surrounding the city" has deeply affected some elderly people. In fact, since the beginning of this year, relevant regulatory departments have issued multiple measures to address issues such as the content and consumption chaos of micro dramas, and related platforms have also taken down multiple illegal works. In June of this year, the State Administration of Radio and Television issued the "Latest Work Tips on the Filing of Short Dramas", which officially came into effect, clarifying that short dramas should be classified and reviewed at different levels, and those that have not been reviewed and filed should not be disseminated online. On October 10, the "Tiktok Security Center" WeChat official account released the "Tiktok Announcement on Cracking Down on Illegal Micro skits", saying that in September, the platform had 166 illegal micro skits off the shelves. However, for the elderly population with weak ability to identify online consumption, the short drama market is still full of traps, mainly with three hidden concerns. Concealed worry one: The consumer trap is caught in the middle, and the channels for safeguarding rights are not smooth. In August of this year, the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Protection Commission conducted a survey on micro drama consumption and found that there were many hidden violations of consumer interests, mainly focusing on inducing high fees, chaotic charging rules, and difficulties in safeguarding rights. I purchased a 90 day membership for a short drama on a certain platform on August 19th, but on September 22nd, while watching the drama, I found that I couldn't watch some of the member's content and needed to recharge to continue watching Mr. Peng, a consumer, said, "My membership period has not expired yet, and this behavior of the platform is deceiving consumers." "Elderly people who are not familiar with the online environment are extremely prone to the trap of paying for micro dramas." Chen Yinjiang, Deputy Secretary General of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, said that some short drama platforms arbitrarily remove dramas, which leads to users being unable to enjoy membership services normally, and even "running away" due to increasingly strict regulatory policies. "Young people often have no way to complain when encountering such situations, and it is even more difficult for elderly people to protect their rights." Hidden worry 2: Some "dog blood" plots trigger negative consumer emotions. Multiple interviewees believe that some elderly micro dramas, through bizarre, vulgar, and melodramatic plots, firmly grasp the hot traffic of elderly users while subtly influencing them. A film and television industry practitioner said, "Some short dramas that frequently slap and tear clothes are actually consuming people's negative emotions and increasing social hostility." A reporter's investigation found that many short dramas have inconsistencies between subtitles and actors' lines: for example, actors say "bitch" while subtitles say "baby"; The actor's dialogue is' shameless', corresponding to the subtitle 'beautiful and generous'. According to the latest work tips on the filing of micro dramas, the review of micro dramas with a total investment of less than 300000 yuan is managed by the platform, "said Zhao Hui, director of the Audiovisual Art Research Center at the Communication University of China and vice chairman of the Micro Drama Committee of the CTV Association. Hidden worry three: The digital divide has formed a "network access barrier". During the investigation by reporters, it was found that although some short drama viewing channels explicitly state the recharge price of the series, key information such as recharge amount, advertisements, and user instructions are displayed in small font size. The total amount of virtual currency required for the entire series is not clearly indicated, and there are various payment options available, which is not friendly to elderly users. Wen Jun, Dean of the School of Social Development at East China Normal University and a sociology professor, said that it is difficult to require elderly consumers to understand these complex and hidden calculation formulas, consumption processes, and recharge rules. Due to significant individual differences, it is actually difficult for us to define the category of 'elderly people' uniformly. This leads to the fact that in the online world, the elderly with weak adaptability need to face the impact of the Internet like the young, which indirectly leads to various problems that some elderly will encounter when "accessing the Internet". " Zhao Hui believes that more care and tolerance are needed for the aging of the internet. The current popularity of elderly short dramas has caused widespread concern in society. On the one hand, this is due to the fact that the industry is in the early stages of development and regulatory regulations are not yet perfect. On the other hand, it also exposes the current situation of insufficient supply of spiritual and cultural needs among the elderly population in China. Film and television producer and screenwriter Tan Zhongkun discovered that with the emergence and growth of short dramas, the image of the silver haired generation in film and television dramas is also changing. "They used to be the supporting role of young people, but now they can become the main characters." Tan Zhongkun said that, to some extent, short plays filled the gap in the elderly theme of traditional film and television works, directly focusing on the elderly group, providing the elderly with unique "emotional value". Xu Mengying, the founder and producer of Style Culture, believes that elderly short dramas use stories to "create dreams" for the elderly. Although the down-to-earth love and the personality charm that outshines others may not come true, the pressure in life is relieved, and the satisfying plot fills the loneliness and emptiness in the heart. Of course, as the content of the short drama ages, platform services and regulation also need to keep up Chen Yinjiang said, "We should not take advantage of the weak position of the elderly in the Internet environment to make big profits." In view of the chaos of recharging and payment in the micro drama industry, Chen Yinjiang suggested that the broadcast platform establish fair and reasonable charging standards, strengthen the obligation to inform, and optimize the automatic renewal mechanism. The platform should also actively develop the payment model for the elderly to solve the problem of impulsive consumption of special digital groups. "Referring to the minor model, the platform can consider providing a service version for the elderly and other key groups. By optimizing the automatic renewal mechanism, the platform will highlight and enlarge the font size of information about the charging method, charging standard, charging ceiling, etc., enhance the digital inclusion for the elderly, and reduce the impulsive consumption of the elderly. Especially in response to the phenomenon of elderly consumers indulging in micro dramas, children should strengthen their companionship and care for the elderly, and avoid the adverse effects of low-quality micro dramas on their physical and mental health The proliferation of some poorly made elderly short dramas is not just an industry issue, it has become a social topic Zhao Hui said that providing the elderly with a better online audio-visual consumption experience is only a small part of the aging friendly transformation of the internet. "Behind this, we need not only more policy and regulatory support, but also stronger technological prevention and more warm social care. More importantly, we need to pay attention to and address the spiritual needs of the elderly, and provide more healthy and positive entertainment and lifestyle choices for the silver haired population
Edit：Rina Responsible editor：Lily
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