I'd like to use this blog post as an opportunity to share how our television viewing patterns have changed since social distancing. Surely, I don't speak only for myself in saying that my television viewing has changed drastically since social distancing. I find myself bouncing between three types of viewing/shows that I'm watching: 1) Not too different from pre-COVID, I'm keeping up with hour long "complex TV" type dramas, but my interest in doing so has plummeted probably because their aesthetics are generally so gritty and dark. 2) In proportion with my declining interest in quality TV, I've found myself rewatching a few shows, mostly sitcoms or animated shows. I hypothesize this to be a comfort-viewing/escapist tactic to relieve myself of the anxieties of an uncertain future. 3) Finally, with the extra time (and to be honest, little motivation) I've been driving into genres that I previously had little interest in, namely romance and competition reality TV, as well as some docuseries.
What's changed about your TV viewing in the days of social distancing?
I was actually just thinking about how my habits have changed in the expectation of what a show should provide me with now. I've recently starting rewatching Criminal Minds. Half of this was so that I could also be on my phone and not be worried I'm going to miss something important (which I wish was a new habit). But I realized the other day that watching Criminal Minds has provided me with a kind of familiarity and support that I think is nice in this time of uncertainty. With serial procedural shows such as Criminal Minds, there is a certain formula that I can count on Criminal Minds following. I always know the episode will start with a murder, the profiling team will be brought in, have on or two red herrings, and then ultimately save the day with a nice aphorism at the end to provide some optimism. The show, I feel, is providing me with some comfort of knowing how things will end as I'm constantly wondering when our current situation will change positively.
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ReplyDeleteThese days I have been binge-watching TV shows, almost exclusively sitcoms, which rarely happens to me. Light-hearted comedies seem to be the last refuge of my anxiety and stress, as I am even impatient with most films and quality TVs that deal with more serious subject matters and thus overwhelm me. I would say it is a comfort-viewing tactic, but not exactly an escapist tactic simply because I do not think it is possible to escape from the harsh reality. No place can be exempted: Home can be seen as a battlefield since staying at home composes an essential part of this fight. Acknowledging this sense of inescapability, I see my binge-watching as a practice that helps me stay positive, engage with the outside world, and thus try to deal with everyday reality better. (Or ... there may not be much difference between dealing with and running away?) Moreover, TV shows I watched recently all tend to offer a sense of familiarity and warmth, be it something I have watched before and like a lot or something funny, relaxing, homely, with no unexpected elements. They are more like a company to me, constantly providing emotional support in a time when our daily life is not far from a disaster film.
ReplyDeleteMaybe not our daily life but certainly the world we are living in today (is not far from a disaster film)
DeleteThis rings very true to my own experience, as well.
DeleteTo be honest, I may be in the minority whose TV watching time has decreased since the start of social distancing. With all of the additional computer time during the day I've found myself less likely to want to be consuming content on screens otherwise; it also has to do with the fact that I'm quarantining with my partner who is not a big TV watcher. Funny how our content habits change through different dimensions of social proximity. What I have been watching, however, is all repeat viewings - I've restarted Schitt's Creek (my partner watching for her first time) and have been returning to old episodes of Curb Your Enthusiasm. Right now, there's comfort in the familiar - even if there's definitely a kind of anxiety held in watching too much of Larry David.
ReplyDeleteGreat question, Jesse, and really illuminating response, Maddie, Yayu, and Anastasia. I'll add my two cents to our mini-poll: my tv viewing habits seem to have stayed more or less unchanged, except for an increase in quantity. I've been watching two shows at a time, a new phenomenon for me. The most significant change has come I think with my increased intake of movies; now that there's more time, I find myself more drawn to watching 2ish hour-long films than I usually am. So I'm not noticing a change in genres towards more comforting kinds of shows (which is the trend that makes most sense), only an uptick in total hours watched. I am glad that the option of binging exists; this seems to be the moment for it.
ReplyDeleteI'm also on the decreasing side of tv watching time during this period of time. I find myself more and more often turn to watching fragmented, short videos on mobile apps such as TikTok, Kwai, and Weibo. Those videos range from 30 seconds to 5 minutes, mostly produced by individuals and a few by very small production teams. I'm interested in two strands of videos. One of them documents real moments in quarantined life, such as going out at night to walk dogs, waiting in a queue to buy grocery or catching fish in a village pond. I'm curious about how people across countries really react to and live in the pandemic. The other I've been watching lately is a series of videos that feature anonymous individuals with special talent or "abnormal" acts that are far from artistic but praised for sincerity. Two reasons to consider—I feel it difficult to concentrate for more after I finish my daily assignment. Meanwhile, I feel increasingly disoriented in terms of temporality, losing a clear sense of time from time to time. There is a decreasing interest in me to follow a weekend ritual of following the most recently updated episode of a tv series.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling of disoriented in time really speaks to my experience in this COVID-19 staying-at-home period. This is especially interesting considering how the experience of watching TV is also a journey that allows us to “forget time” and defy what some people call the “chrononormativity.” Part of my joy of watching tv and films comes from the idea that I can just sit there for several hours doing nothing but watch. This is, as I grew up I came to realise, a luxury or a waste of time for many people. Television and film become a way for me to keep sanity (or, craziness?) from those standardised calendar clocks. But now the temporality and plans of the whole society seems to be destructed—does this has anything to do with my decreasing tv watching time? Is that the chrononormatvity of the whole world has become porous that I don’t have to rely on tv and film watching to find an escape?
ReplyDeleteMy TV watching habit has changed a lot and watching time has been very much increased during this period. I think part of this has to do with the increased time I spend at home that enables me to binge-watch TV series, but it also has something to do with the nostalgic quality some TV programs have to me personally. The pandemic has brought about emergent situations all over the world, and my home country is also not an exception. The prevailing uncertainty about the future and unsettling feeling I have about my home country where I will not be able to go back due to travel restrictions urge me to watch some TV programs I used to watch as a kid. This experience makes me consider how TV culture has contributed to creating a sense of home or sense of belonging to a particular national/regional framework.
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