Last year, I wrote a post about how I’m not much of a TV person. While my roommate would spend her weekends watching Gilmore Girls, I would much rather hang out with friends.
The main reason I couldn’t handle binge watching was a harsh mix of ADHD and FOMO.
My ADHD makes it hard to focus on one thing. I spend most movies looking at my phone, text during classes (sorry Mom), and overanalyze every second of whatever is happening in front of me, but that’s not even the main problem. My ADHD is severely influenced by my fear of missing out.
Last year, I was so desperate to be a part of a community that I spent every waking second seeing what everyone else was up to. This wasn’t simply my friends and family, but everyone. There were friend groups I wanted to be involved in but didn’t know how, and I sat in jealousy hoping one of my few friends would be free.
Today, I am a month into my first full time job. Forty hour weeks are difficult, and with a forty-minute commute both ways, I’m exhausted by the time I get home. While the job sometimes sucks, it has forced me into a routine. Every night, I come home, make and eat dinner, and watch TV while catching up with my roommates. We regularly binge Brooklyn 99 and Handmaid’s Tale, and it kinda seals in the night for me.
I don’t view bingeing the way I used to. Because of the way my dad talked about TV, I judged the people around me for spending so much time watching. Now, I see it as a way to unwind, and it has helped me work through my FOMO. Instead of focusing on what everyone else is doing, I’m able to spend time with the people I love and watch something stupid before going to sleep.
We as humans are capable of shitty things, but watching ten episodes of Good Trouble is not one of them. Sometimes, it’s okay to just be.
