Too Many Choices

I love watching TV shows and movies, and right now we are living in a time of so much choice in what type of content and media we consume. We are fortunate to live in a time of abundance with all these streaming services, compared to earlier times when there was no TV or limited channels. But it’s a lot like food; we used to not have enough, but now in first world countries we have too much of it and that leads to obesity and other associated health issues (but that’s for another blog post). With content as well, there’s so much good and bad to parse through and overindulging can have adverse affects on our health. That’s why, I’m at least happy that I very rarely binge (spend more than 3 hours) on TV shows or movies. But I am definitely guilty of going down the YouTube rabbit hole and spending hours throughout a given day watching shorts or up to 20 minute videos. 

TV/M, more so than social media videos including YouTube, immerse me into a story and often provide a message that lingers with me afterwards. I mainly gravitate towards cinematic or award wining TV/M instead of like sitcoms or really any time of series that seems drawn out, for the sense of witnessing art or something profound. But like with everything else, too many choices give me anxiety, it makes me overthink. If I’m watching something I don’t like right away, then I’m tempted to switch to something else since I’ll feel like I’m wasting my time and have so many other options that I could enjoy more. 

Also, there’s an opportunity cost I face every time I watch a TV/M, because you have to sit down and watch intently to get the most out of them. Therefore my anxious brain worries that- I can’t exercise (besides walking on treadmill), I can’t do chores/miscellaneous tasks. Sure, sometimes I will watch TV/M at work, but I often have to pause what I’m doing which breaks up the flow and the illusion of being immersed in the story. The perfect time to watch a movie or TV show for me is at night to unwind, but I often end up falling asleep due to it being nighttime combined with overexerting my attention span. 

TV/M also are a much better replacement for time spent: doom scrolling, watching shorts, and even YouTube videos (I love YouTube, but it definitely still feels like a time suck even if I’m watching something educational or long form). I have this theory that if I replaced TV/M with social media scrolling, then my attention span will increase because there’s delayed gratification in watching something much longer form compared to short form. I also am aware I exacerbate the problem sometimes when I watching videos at 1.5x speed, basically saying “I’m impatient and need to get to the point faster” or “I feel guilty about this time suck, so I’m going to play the video faster so I can save time (which usually just leads to increase in quantity of videos watched). But, at least I make sure not to change the speed with TV/M, that “dead time” when nothing is really going on adds to the effect and overall immersion, since life itself has natural pauses. 

Currently for me it’s best to watch TV/M at night to unwind. Doing it the morning or doing the day, unless a weekend where there’s not much going on would make me feel way too guilty like I’m watching something to procrastinate on getting things done. At least what’s different from reading: I don’t feel guilt about being “too slow” at it. It’s still relatively mindless compared to reading or studying, but it does require more attention to keep up with the plot compared to watching a YouTube video. I’ve only recently come to terms with what we can watch is finite, and there’s a lot of Oscar winning/letterbox/criterion closet movies I might never get to watch just because of setting aside the time and also they are often an added cost compared to normal streaming. Also, I’m trying to not feel bad for watching something silly or bad. It’s not as much of a waste of time as I think. TV/M are meant for enjoyment first (like dessert after a long day) and learning something second.