In 1998, 57 million viewers watched the 70th annual Academy Awards, anxious to see whether movies like Titanic, Good Will Hunting, and L.A. Confidential would win awards. In contrast, just 17.9 million viewers tuned in to this year’s 98th Academy Awards, marking one of the Oscars’ lowest viewership ratings since it became televised. The decline of the Oscars can be chalked up to any number of factors: woke “jokes” alienating audiences, lower-quality movie productions, or even the general decline of broadcast television.
Beyond these factors, the cultural importance of movies has drastically changed in the past few decades. The 1998 Academy Awards featured a range of stars, from Jack Lemmon to Jennifer Lopez, representing the multigenerational importance of film. The host, Billy Crystal, was a beloved comic who was at the height of his fame. The movies receiving awards were cultural juggernauts that had been seen by a majority of the show’s audience.
The Oscars have become irrelevant now because movies no longer reflect American culture. Younger Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen Alpha are growing up in a world where movies and television don’t set cultural trends. Instead, the internet sets current trends.
This year’s Oscars host, the 62-year-old Conan O’Brien, attempted to make light of the disconnect between young people and the show’s aging audience. O’Brien used internet slang like “host-maxxing,” “rizz,” and “brain-rot,” before pointing out that his attempt to communicate with young people was going out on broadcast television, which few of them watch.
O’Brien’s joke reveals the sad truth that the internet has overtaken film. Only eight percent of Gen Z members report going to the movies at least once a month. In comparison, roughly 94 percent of Gen Zers report using a social media platform at least once per day. In 2025, 76 percent of teenagers reported using YouTube every single day. The biggest YouTube streamers, such as Mr. Beast and PewDiePie, have millions of subscribers, and top streamers’ videos rake in millions of views.
Youth culture now revolves around internet popularity. The decline in sitcoms, movies, and television is largely due to these mediums’ inability to keep pace with what is relevant online.
The sad result of a continuously fluctuating culture is a generation of young people who have no pervasive cultural identity. In the past, movies and music influenced what young people wore, who their favorite stars were, and the kinds of activities they liked. In 1998, many girls had crushes on Leonardo DiCaprio after they saw Titanic, or they started listening to Will Smith’s music after seeing him in Men in Black. They repeated the jokes they saw on Saturday Night Live or tried to dress like the kids on Dawson’s Creek. Across the country, young people were having similar experiences.
The internet has shattered monoculture. The relatively finite number of media outlets available in the 20th century has been replaced with millions of podcasts and social feeds. Streaming services like Netflix and Hulu have made decades worth of movies and television series available on demand, meaning people can watch anything at any time. Music streaming services have also taken away the relevance of the radio, decreasing the importance of new music in modern culture.
The only way for young people to find a sense of common identity in the overwhelming internet era is through absurdity. It is no coincidence that as the internet consumed American culture, young people participated in increasingly outlandish trends. Gen Z could surpass Millennials as the most-tattooed generation, and piercings of all types abound. Gen Z is apparently the most likely age demographic to identify as “furries,” and it has the highest likelihood of identifying as transgender.
Fortunately, there is hope. An increasing number of young people are looking to get away from their phones. Recent polls have indicated that Gen Zers are deleting social media apps, taking extended breaks, and posting less frequently than they have in previous years. Between 2022 and 2024, young people reduced their screen time considerably. In online communities, there is a growing clamour for in-person activities after years of going digital.
Hollywood has a prime opportunity to recapture the attention of young people, but if it doesn’t, it might end up as dead as magazines.
Brooke Brandtjen is a writer and journalist from Wisconsin who focuses primarily on culture, politics, and religion. She is extremely passionate about the arts and history, and is honored to write for a variety of distinguished publications.
