On Content Consumption
I seem to always have too much to consume. As it stands, I have massive collections and lists of movies, TV shows, books, podcasts, audiobooks, comic books and albums to consume. This seems a fact I can always rely on, and rarely is the instance in which the numbers that catalogue the sheer size of those lists ever reduces. I do my best to keep track, with various websites and notes stored on a multitude of platforms, hoping I don’t miss out on something I haven’t read, watched or heard. There are a few reasons for this, that I honestly never think about but in this case, it might be useful to lay them out in writing for once. Let’s start with what I think is the biggest cause of the problem.
Reviews. I have written about how much I find it difficult to separate opinions I hear from my own, a problem I’m still working on. Unfortunately in this case, it translates very well onto this issue – particularly because of how much content there is out there to begin with – each with its own vocal proponent. And hearing each of these recommendations is exciting, it fills me with an anticipation for consuming this supposedly great piece of art, but that anticipation wanes very quickly. So the cycle continues. I hear about this flawless [insert content form here], conduct some cursory research about it, add it to any lists I can, before essentially forgetting about it and moving on. But now for reason number two.
Unnecessary commitment. If there’s a show or podcast or series of books that I’ve at any point enjoyed, or with which I have held a lengthy connection, severing that connection becomes harder and harder, and as before, the lists grow. This reason is different in that, in this case, it contributes a sense of minor dread at having to maintain this connection to a piece of work I haven’t felt strongly about in a long time, which can make the prospect of even attempting to cross some content off the lists that much more unappealing. I have, in the past, attempted – to varying degrees of success – cutting out this returning content, but the ever-present hurdle is that as time moves on, that process repeats itself and calls for the same tiresome action to be carried out. The last reason is one I probably feel the worst about.
Comfort. My preferred choice in the abundant free time I always seem to have is to return to an [insert content form here] that I have already consumed, usually one that I’ve already revisited repeatedly. There are shows and books and movies I know scarily well, and that fact is, in and of itself, strangely comforting. More often than not, as well, this comfort is attached to the sort of light-hearted entertainment I maybe won’t feel too good about, but that will definitely not make me feel bad. The unfortunate reality of the boundless media today is that so much of it is good, and that there are never guaranteed painless or perfectly comfortable experiences, which is a fact I have to get used to. This dichotomy is frustrating, but there is only one way out. Putting into words what has until now been sentiment has been undeniably helpful in making sense of this (inconsequential and unimportant) problem. Comfort may be comforting, but can be equally limiting.