Tag: Netflix

Are You Still Watching?

I’ve had Netflix for at least three years now – and for a man with a particular interest in television and how it’s made, I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t spent nearly enough of that time actually watching it. Not even an international pandemic and the lockdowns therein have prompted me to get a move on, much to Louis’ chagrin. I should clarify that I’m not quite as uncultured as I must immediately look – there’s a lot of film and TV that I have seen. It’s just that much of what I haven’t seen happens to be well-known, including all the latest sensations on the streaming service. For a long time, I could never be quite sure why. It would be oh-so-easy to for me to sit back and press play, so why hadn’t I?

The answer recently hit me when I least expected it. Having finished the latest series of Formula 1: Drive to Survive, I was staring forlornly at the long watch list Louis had compiled for me, comprised of all the things he’d been insisting I devour for goodness knows how long. All things I’d probably enjoy, as countless millions of others had, but just had no motivation to start myself. Most of the things I had watched were either old favourites I’d seen several times, or newcomers not featured on the list. And why? Because I felt no pressure to watch them – they hadn’t been sat there glaring at me with the weight of expectation behind them, I’d simply found and appreciated them of my own accord.

That’s exactly where I think my problem lies. It seems that in 2021, there’s something new we should all be getting our teeth into almost every week – and that if you haven’t watched that film or binged ten episodes of that hot new series, then you’re lagging behind everyone else, out of the loop. There’s suddenly a plethora of pop culture references that will be lost on you if you’re not immediately in the know, and that’s a pretty daunting prospect, at least for me. It’s where the aforementioned pressure comes from, and it’s not much fun at all. Realising what’s been putting me off, though, has given me the perfect approach going forward. If I’m to get the best out of Netflix, I just have to take it at my own pace – even if that means having to put up with more of Louis’ incessant badgering as I prioritise what I want to see, rather than what I feel I need to. He’ll just have to wait a little longer for me to get to Stranger Things.

Mason

Detox Days

After two excellent posts this month by Emily and Alex, I’m back, and for the first time in a while I actually have something worth saying. A week ago, without telling anyone, I entered into a temporary social media detox. I deactivated my Facebook account for three days, turned off all Messenger notifications and looked at Twitter and Instagram as little as possible. I started writing this post then, as I don’t consider this blog to be social media. After all, what you read here is largely all my own work, and as a lot of you will know by now, it’s been an invaluable outlet for my thoughts and feelings over the last five years, so it escaped the cut. I feel I really benefited from the break and, having now finished all my work for the second year of university (madness), I went into it with some new pastimes in mind.

I won’t lie to you, they did still mostly revolve around screen time or Spotify. I finished watching Normal People, searched for some new music I could listen to while concentrating, and even saw The Lego Movie 2 with Louis. Last night, I actually decided to get some use out of my Netflix (which I’m ashamed to say is neglected far too much), and watched one of the countless well-known films I’d never seen before. In this instance, it was the highly entertaining Ocean’s Eleven. Yes, none of these things abandoned technology completely, but I still felt calmer, like some kind of weight I couldn’t quite identify had been lifted. I was talking to Alex about this feeling just the other day, and how even though giving up social media entirely would disconnect me from too many people, I can definitely see why the idea is appealing to others. My little breather has exposed just how much of a difference focusing on yourself, even for a little bit, can make. I’ll certainly think about doing it again when I feel the need – and next time, I might aim for a week off instead of three days!

Mason