The reason why it has become more normal nowadays is because today’s frum society is unfortunately way too restrictive in allowing our bochurim to do things they really enjoy and have talent with. (I cannot comment on the girls of today. but I think they have their own meshugasim, possibly including watching a movie or two as well). How many shtark bochurim do you know that can have hobbies when they are holed up in the yeshiva the entire day? (Disclaimer: I am talking about the bochurim who shouldn’t be there all day when I use the term “holed up.”) Even during bein hasedarim (which, combined, might mean 4-5 hours over the course of the day/night), you won’t find too many boys today who are playing instruments, going for a jog or playing ball, working a small side job, reading interesting kosher books, or anything productive (remember: for 90% of bochurim, especially those who are 17, 18, 19, college is out of the question).
If a boy wants to get into playing an instrument, or a jog, or chess, or something, too often he is put down because of it. Instead, it is seen as better that boys should be learning 100 hours a day – even though 90% of boys are not cut out for this at all. This is why I think that boys should be allowed to go to kosher colleges, such as Touro, etc… (or even secular colleges depending on the boy). It is not a healthy environment for the boys to be hanging around in their dorms all day. We have often segregated the yeshivas who do more extra-curricular stuff as lacking, but the truth is that many of the more yeshivish yeshivas could benefit from having something for boys to do in their downtime. Is it so bad that the boy takes a couple of courses for a few hours twice a week, or maybe works as a lifeguard a couple of hours a week, or volunteers a couple of hours a week, etc…
Many guys will tutor other boys, but usually it’s the real top boys who are doing this.
When you are in a yeshiva all day, and one with a dorm, and nothing else to do but learn, that is why you see boys picking up these dangerous and destructive habits such as smoking, drinking, and watching movies or inappropriate material.
This is all coming from someone who knows the system very well. I do think that it is more common than people think for a bochur/yungerman to enjoy a movie sometimes, but maybe the issue is that the “top bochurim” of today doesn’t mean as much as it used to – because everyone nowadays goes to yeshiva in Lakewood, Mir, etc… – so you will obviously find it to be more prevalent now.
In short, the point of this post is to say that this type of behavior is more normal than you think, but it’s not necessarily indicative of so much. The fact that a guy learns in kollel does not tell you anything about the guy. The average quality of a yungerman 20 years ago as compared to today is starkly different, both because of the moral decline of society, and because there are too many mediocre boys in full-time learning for too long, that they water down the chashivus of our outstanding young future Rebbeim, who are truly amazing for what they can accomplish.