IN The age of streaming, it’s the smallest buttons that reveal the biggest cultural shifts. Netflix’s “skip intro” feature, now joined by “skip recap”, “skip credits”, was designed to make watching smoother. But it’s quietly flattening the experience of watching anything at all. What used to be storytelling is now treated like an obstacle course, a game of tapping past “unnecessary” bits. Except in this game, the prize is less fun.

For decades, title sequences were tiny rituals, emotional runways. Neuroscience tells us that dopamine spikes most intensely before a reward, during anticipation, not payoff. Opening themes used this beautifully, priming us for the world we were about to enter. They prepared the brain, tuned the heart, slowed the body........

© Indian Express