Why It’s Harder to Start New Shows as You Get Older

After becoming an adult who has to live the typical adult life, everything becomes a commitment. Your home, your job, seeing friends and family, having a pet or maybe even children—all of these things make up the lives we live, but they also all take up time. There’s responsibility in every aspect of being an adult. Take care of yourself, but don’t get lazy; have time for self-care, but don’t forget to be productive; pay your bills on time, but spend money on the things that make you happy. It’s hard to find the right balance for life’s responsibilities and enjoyment.

That’s what entertainment and literature are for—distractions and immersivity. These are supposed to be the facets of imagination that aim to take us away from our everyday hardships, at least, for a little while. Books, movies, shows, music—the mediums that we chose to put time and effort into are absolute huge parts if our life! What I’ve found, however, along with other people my age and other, is that it’s difficult to start new projects as you get older. And committing to a new television show is a project—it takes, time, effort, and money, all of which can hard to come by in an adult lifestyle.

So what is it about adult life that makes it hard for us to take the time to watch a new show were interested in? What stops us from just hitting the ‘start’ button on our televisions late at night?

THE NEVER-ENDING COMFORT SHOW

We all have an endless list of televisions shows in our head that we need to watch. Shows that had even premiered over a decade ago are are my list. It’s an endless game of playing catchup. “Oh, have you watched The Bear yet? The newest season was great!”, “I’ve been meaning too! It’s on my watch list!” Or, “You really need to watch The Pitt! I think you would love it?”, “Okay, I’m adding it to my list now!” I swear, I am always adding shows to my list, and then never crossing them off.

The shows that I do end up watching are the shows I’ve already watched a hundred times. Instead of binge watching something new, I end up binge watching a show I know by heart. My comfort shows, as we all call them. A comfort show is a TV show you watch again and again. It’s your go-to when you need something on the TV, but don’t know what to put on. The simplicity of a comfort show is that you already know you’re going to like it. Whether the show is background noise or something you are actually going to watch, it’s a program you know and love.

Comfort shows can trap us in an infinite loop of never watching something new. If you’re like me, then even worse, you might have rotating comfort shows. So in theory, I am watching lots of television, but I am also only taking in an immersive world I already know. That means I don’t have to think critically about it, determine if I like the characters, or debate if it’s a show worth my time and effort. I can just binge watch material I already like. Inherently, there’s nothing wrong with this. I’ll never nag someone who only watches comfort shows, but, staying comfortable does prevent you from finding something new to fan over.

It might seem trivial to to others—the idea that starting a new show is difficult. But that reality is that, it is! When you’re staring at your TV screen, unsure what to put on because there are too many options, 9 times out of 10 we put on something we already know and enjoy. This way, it’s easy, breezy, fast entertainment.

TIME, MONEY, AND EFFORT

Dedicating yourself to a new television show is more than just being interested in it. It takes time, money, and effort. Some shows might only be 12 episodes a season, and that’s not so bad! But other shows, especially older ones, can range from 6 seasons to 15 to even 20—I’m looking over at you, Grey’s Anatomy. It’s a real commitment to spend that much time dedicating yourself to your TV. We have to be really really interested in a show to watch it all the way through. It’s one of the main problems of starting something new. Maybe you watch one season of a show, then take a break to watch something else. Then, before you know that same show now has 5 seasons. We fall behind before the main plots of the show even take place.

Watching TV also requires something very important; money. Whether it’s plain cable or a streaming service, you do have to be able to afford to watch television. Now, we could get into the cable vs. streaming debate and it would last all day, but the reality is that not too many shows film for cable television anymore. Some do, but most shows are only exclusive to a service now. How many services are we willing to buy just to watch TV? Sometimes the cost isn’t worth the entertainment value. Then you’re left hoping you can steal a friend’s password and use their streaming service. Or, you’re hoping you can get a free 30-day trial and somehow watch all 8 seasons in one month.

Time and money leads to a lot of effort being made just to watch something. This makes us revert to watching what we already know we like. Little effort, with decent reward. We go back to watching those comfort shows and movies because it’s easier than thinking of all that comes with starting a new project.

SO . . . HOW DO WE END THE TELEVISION RELAPSE?

Being an adult takes up so much time in our brains, so we’re not really worried or thinking about trivial things such as how to end the comfort show epidemic. But it is possible! The easiest way, I think, is to just not overthink it. Hit that ‘start’ button without thought. If you like the show, great, and if you don’t, who cares! If you already have the streaming service, or are able to use it through family or friends, then it’s no harm or foul just to try something.

I promise, no one is going to care if you ‘gave up’ on a TV show because you didn’t enjoy it. I’ve always disliked the media culture surrounding giving up on a show before you’ve given it a ‘real chance’. If I didn’t like the first few episodes, then why should I continue wasting my effort on it? I’ve already got too long a list of shows to watch to worry about not liking one of them!

Really, the best way to end your comfort show reruns is to find a show you’ve been meaning to watch, and just press play. Whether you have the time to binge the show or even just one episode, it doesn’t matter. Sometimes, when we build up all these expectations and plan a specific time to start something, we never end up getting to it! Just start it up!

End the comfort show epidemic by pressing play, today!