Turn Off The Idiot Box
It's a disease just like the chicken pox
As I’m sure approximately 1-3 of you are aware, the title and subtitle of this post are lyrics from the delightfully incisive 1997 song, “Idiot Box!” by The Aquabats. In my youth during the turn of the century, my older brother shared this particular song with me not only because The Aquabats are a kid-friendly ska band, but I suspect to also poke fun at my own zombie-eyed obsession with our television.
TV and the Attention Economy
I think we’re all aware that we live in an attention economy—and have been for some time now. But looking back on it, things seemed far less nefarious 20 years ago than they do these days. Sure, we had cable growing up, but there was still a finite number of channels to flip through. New episodes aired at a certain time on a certain day; if we couldn’t watch it live, we had to record it using our VCR (please Google that term if you’ve never heard it before). If there was truly nothing on, I’d go outside, read a book, or orchestrate wildly inappropriate plot lines with my My Little Ponies. We also only had one TV in our house (compared to friends whose homes housed multiple TVs, sometimes even in their bedroom!), so if my parents were watching golf (yawn) or This Old House (zzzzz), I’d happily go find any other way to entertain myself.
Despite all this, I still managed to glue myself to the boob tube for a sizable chunk of my childhood. TV and movies have always been my preferred form of media. I loved them so much, I thought I wanted to work in entertainment. (Growing up in Los Angeles probably didn’t help.) It wasn’t just limited to a childish dream of wanting to act on screen; I even loved commercials (the attention economy’s greatest wish, I’m sure), and found infomercials deeply enthralling. So it’s no surprise why—after giving up on the acting pipe dream—I studied communications & mass media, why I loved Mad Men, and why I moved to NYC after college to try and get a job in advertising. (I ended up getting into branding instead, which is pre-advertising, but I’m not sure it’s any less evil.)
Thankfully, at some point, I rediscovered nature and shook myself awake from the content & consumerism coma I’d been in for 30 years. But today, it’s hard not to notice that the attention economy is more overwhelming and diabolical than ever before thanks to streaming and smartphones—we now have mini Idiot Boxes in our hands at all times!
“There’s nothing on” is an obsolete phrase you never hear anymore. Because there is literally always something on. There’s always a new show to “binge” from our neverending To-Watch list full of shows and movies our friends, coworkers, and mere acquaintances have told us we absolutely must see!!! And while some of this content is indeed artistic, moving, and/or thought-provoking (e.g., Severance, The White Lotus, Love On The Spectrum, etc.), I’d argue the vast majority is, if not pure trash, something we’ll immediately forget about in a week. Assuming we have the appropriate streaming service (or at least the password1 to someone else’s), we can watch any movie or show at any time of day as long as we have an internet connection. I’m pretty sure Netflix retired that “Are you still watching?” pop-up because it benefits their interests if our eyes are glued to the screen Clockwork Orange style for as long as humanly possible.
And this is all before even mentioning the hypnotic hellscapes of TikTok and Instagram which, in addition to providing us with a bottomless pit of even more content, have slashed our attention spans and drained our dopamine.
If you feel personally attacked by anything I’ve said so far, please know that I’m writing this more as a reminder to myself rather than as a judgement on anyone else.
Escaping Escapism
I still love TV, but I know that it has the power to become a numbing addiction if I’m not careful. Of course I still watch it, but lately I’ve been trying to be much more intentional with my consumption—I only want to watch something “good.” That’s because I’ve gotten to the end of one too many shows or limited series only to realize that I fully wasted 8+ hours of my life.
Here are some things that have helped me Turn Off the Idiot Box (which can be considered a screen of any size):
On my best behavior, I’m not starting any episodes after 8pm. (But this is also because I like to be asleep by 10pm :)
I don’t casually start new-to-me shows anymore, especially if they already have multiple seasons and/or if I have a lot of other projects/work going on in my life. I know that once I’m hooked, I will eschew responsibility to see a series through to its end, so I find it best if I just don’t even start.
I rarely rewatch shows. Some exceptions include: I rewatched Season 1 of Severance in preparation for Season 2 (so worth it) and I rewatched Girls while in Brooklyn last summer while foam rolling my legs every night during yoga teacher training (such a different experience watching it as a 30-something rather than a 20-something!). Otherwise, I know better than to put on an old sitcom simply for the cozy/avoidant comfort of background noise.
I acknowledge and accept that I will never, ever be able to watch all the quality content that’s been recommended to me. Knowing this makes it a whole lot easier to ignore people’s insistent peer pressure to watch ________.
If I do start a new show or season, I much prefer if the episodes are released weekly rather than in one big binge drop. Reminiscent of pre-streaming days, I enjoy the portion control inherent to episodic releases. I also love the “water cooler talk” that these weekly drops inspire among friends, coworkers, and the public sphere. That’s pop culture at its best!
I deactivated my Instagram in January. I have another account that I very rarely log into if I need to look up some information, but I am basically off social media at this point and it feels amazing. Also, I’ve never used TikTok.
When all else fails, I try my best to remember all the things that I want to do if only I could remember to tear myself away from my many screens. Instead of wasting my life on the couch like a stoned corpse, I’D RATHER BE:
Spending time with friends
Writing (bonus points if it’s on paper!)
Reading (fiction is a particularly great substitute for television)
Practicing yoga
GOING OUTSIDE!!!
Listening to a podcast
Cleaning my room
Taking a walk
Rollerblading!
Riding my bike
Going to the beach
Surfing
Learning something new
Talking on the phone
Going to the movie theater (I consider this an experiential dosage of art)
Mending old clothes
Gardening and working in the yard
COOKING
Making a collage
Doing the homework for all my various courses
Baking bread, making sauerkraut, and other kitchen witch activities
Doing my To Be Magnetic work
Washing the dishes (not fun but necessary)
Dancing
There are soooo many reasons to want to escape reality these days. The desire to veg out, turn off our brains, and couch rot is all too relatable—especially if you suffer from anxiety/depression like me. I know a lot of us feel helpless when it comes to “the state of the world” and climate change and inflation and all the other historic crap we get to live through right now. So, wouldn’t it be sort of radical of us to reclaim our power by turning our attention away from the stupid, soul-sucking screens they’ve hijacked to simultaneously soothe and scare us? What if we stopped binging and doom-scrolling and remembered to look up and around and outside, or maybe even close our eyes and look inside? Productivity aside, think of all the things we could actually be doing if our precious time wasn’t used up watching. To actively live vs. passively exist.
I don’t know about you but I’m just trying to be less of an idiot.
I’m actually totally fine with streaming services’ crackdown on password sharing because it’s a lot easier to say no to a drug when it’s no longer free!