Letterboxd: Mending attention spans with the magic of cinema

On average, teenagers spend seven and a half hours a day watching a screen. Whether they be plastered to their phone, doomscrolling on TikTok, or idly watching reruns on TV, they are constantly bombarded with information and content. So why not use those screens for something good instead?
Letterboxd was created in 2011 by New Zealanders Matt Buchanan and Karl von Randow, but for years, it was only used by an incredibly niche community of cinephiles. It was an app made by movie lovers for movie lovers. A place to review films without needing to be an acclaimed critic. It was a corner of the internet full of people who watched movies for the artistry, not just the mindless entertainment. What Buchanan and Randow never expected was for the app to suddenly blow-up during COVID, going from one point five million users in 2019 to 20 million today. Gen Z quickly became obsessed, and loving the art of filmmaking suddenly became cool again.
With the conversation of dwindling attention spans constantly at the forefront of people’s minds, it is refreshing to see young people sit down and engross themselves in a story for hours at a time. Intending to put their thoughts into words, Letterboxd users pay a unique amount of attention to the smallest details when watching a film in order to convey their thoughts without any confusion. There is a certain integrity to it that is missing from other social media platforms, where people openly lie or spread misinformation without remorse. While TikTok has been attributed to the “brainrot” epidemic through its short and overstimulating format, Letterboxd encourages its users to slow down and absorb the information they are given. It has helped retrain millions of people’s minds into actually paying attention to things instead of scrolling the second they become disinterested.
Letterboxd has also become a source of community for many people. It is where they go to share in the love they have for film and bond over the experiences they have watching different movies. Social media has constantly diminished community spaces by isolating people from the outside world and pushing negativity onto their feeds. But Letterboxd encourages people to get out of the house and meet like-minded people. On the app, there is a feature available where you can see the showtimes for different films in your area. This feature has helped get people into theatres, able to experience movies on the big screen with others enjoying it alongside them. Indie film producers have even cited Letterboxd as a key reason why young people have been going to the theatre in droves. Movies like Hundreds of Beavers, an extremely indie film with a budget of only $150,000, were able to have huge theatrical success because of the effects of Letterboxd.
All of this is not to say that Letterboxd does not come with its flaws. There have been valid critiques of the app in the past, and there likely will be in the future, but the positive impact it has had is immeasurable. When all hope had been lost for Gen Z and their attention spans, Letterboxd came along and helped their minds heal a little bit. There is a long way to go before it can be said that movie theatres are no longer at risk of bankruptcy or that adolescents cannot focus on anything, but this app has helped the indie film industry thrive, and it has put the love of cinema back into millions of people's hearts.