So much screen time the past few years!
During those earliest days of the pandemic, it seemed like catching up on shows and movies was all there was to do. These days, after getting three kids to bed, a bedtime story for myself on HBO Max is a nice little treat.
It’s funny because there used to be a negative correlation between the time I spent watching stuff and my quality of life.
We spent a long chunk of my childhood without a TV, but when high school came around that changed. I ate up the DVD sales at Blockbuster. There were a lot of moments around that time where life felt some combination of difficult or boring, and so there was something kind of aspirational about the stories I watched. Like, life could get exciting!
And it did. In college and in my early 20s, things took off. Friendships. Adventures. And I had so much going on, I couldn’t keep up with a show. The times I’d see movies were when friends hosted movie nights. I thought my infrequency of watching stuff meant that I had better things to do.
Stuff often comes full circle though.
While life is different, I’m still loving it. It definitely isn’t boring. At the same time, I’ve been watching a lot more stuff. And that hasn’t been a bad thing. I’m realizing that my love of stories enriches life.
Netflix is such an easy punching bag sometimes. How many times have you had someone use the phrase “if you can watch Netflix for two hours a day, you have the time to…”
For me, though, getting immersed in a story kickstarts my own creative energy. Watching something that hits those deeper feelings stirs up an extra sense of aliveness. Of course, you have to be a bit selective. And attentive. I tend to turn up the sound and turn down the lights just to boost the experience.
Screens and Stories
