An office worker, Mr. Kim, spent his weekend “watching” Han Kang’s novel The Vegetarian after news broke of her Nobel Prize in Literature. Not “reading”—but “watching,” as he absorbed the entire story in just 36 seconds. Surprising? He also “watched” Kang’s We Do Not Part, which took him 41 minutes. Given his time, he clearly did more than glance at the cover. But that was just part of his weekend binge: he tore through all 12 episodes of the Netflix series Culinary Class Wars and both seasons of Hellbound, finishing the episodes in a single day. He even caught up on Uprising, the opening film from the 2024 Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which he’d missed last month, and rewatched Exhuma on streaming after seeing it in theaters.
Is Kim somehow bending time? Does his day last 240 hours instead of the usual 24? Not exactly. With YouTube summary videos and “speed playback” options on streaming platforms, such a level of consumption is very possible.
In a time when “short, short, short” is the trend, content across media is shortening. Books turn into “quick reads,” dramas become “bite-sized episodes,” and movies become “bite-sized films” as long-form content is condensed into digestible snippets. Rather than reading an entire book, people now watch five-minute summaries or condense a 16-episode series into a two- or three-hour recap. Even that can seem long, with many opting to watch at 1.5x speed. Take Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond, a book known for being started but rarely finished—it’s now available as an eight-minute summary for today’s time-strapped audiences. Many popular books even offer summaries that can be absorbed in a minute or two, ideal for the schedules of modern readers.
This isn’t just a shift from text to video; even webtoons, once seen as quicker reads compared to novels, now have condensed “short webtoon” versions. YouTube is filled with videos like “The Full Webtoon Story in 7 Minutes” or “63-Episode Webtoon Marathon Summary in Two Hours,” providing brief versions of these stories.
With a steady flow of new content, audiences face a dilemma: there’s always something new to watch, but not enough time. Yet, staying socially current requires at least some familiarity with the latest shows and books. As society increasingly values dabblers with broad knowledge over masters, summary videos offer a solution. For instance, within three days of the Hellbound Season 2′s release, a 23-minute recap was available online, reducing the 12 hours of Seasons 1 and 2 to a fraction of the time.
Popular series, typically released as weekly hour-long episodes, often get summarized into five- to ten-minute videos by the following morning. The more popular the show, the quicker these summaries appear. Kim, a 31-year-old office worker, explained, “When I’m too tired to watch something at night, I’ll catch a summary video during my commute. It’s not the same as watching the full show, but knowing the gist helps me keep up in conversations.”
For those who find even summary videos too long, there’s always the option to watch at 1.5x or 2x speed or to skip sections. Originally popular in online education, adjustable playback speeds are now common in entertainment. With platforms like YouTube and streaming services, and with subtitles available, viewers can keep up with a plot, characters, and emotions, even at accelerated speeds.
Analysts view this as part of a “real-time society.” Professor Lee sees this trend as a reaction to the pressures of modern life: “People feel compelled to maximize every moment to stay ahead. This trend allows for broader knowledge, but often at the cost of depth.”
