The Art of Not Watching TV

About a week ago, I found myself falling into the old habit of turning on a TV show for ten minutes, getting bored, spending forty-five minutes looking for something else, watching that for ten minutes, and repeating this process over and over.

I set a new rule for myself a while back. When I catch myself in one of these loops, I either boot up a video game, open a book, do some writing, or work out. Basically, I find something else to entertain me so that I don't waste an entire Friday evening trying to find something to watch.

It's been over a week now, but I still haven't found my way out of this TV/movie-watching slump. Sure, I've managed to watch a few things, but I'm SO not interested. In the past, this would stress me out. I'd feel like I was wasting my free time because I couldn't relax without watching TV. And worse, as discussed previously in regard to Halloween, I'd be even more stressed because I should be catching up on horror movies and TV shows. You know, consume, consume, consume... now where have I seen that before?

Ha, just kidding. This is not a long-winded post about how They Live is still relevant, if not more so in 2026. I mean, it is, but yeah...

No, this post is about accepting that sometimes you just need something new and different. Sometimes you need to unplug and find another way to relax.

I think one of the problems with having so much entertainment available is that I've forgotten what it's like to be bored. Growing up, there were only so many channels on television, and if nothing was on, well, you found something else to do. You didn't have thousands of movies and TV shows waiting for you at the press of a button. You either watched what was available or moved on with your day.

Now, I can spend an entire evening browsing through more entertainment than I could possibly consume in a lifetime, and somehow still feel like there's nothing worth watching. It's a strange problem to have.

I've also begun to wonder when my hobbies became something I felt like I needed to keep up with. I have lists of movies I want to watch, games I want to play, and books I want to read. All things I genuinely enjoy, but sometimes those lists start feeling more like chores than opportunities to have fun.

Maybe that's part of the problem. I've spent so much time thinking about what I want to watch next that I've forgotten there's nothing wrong with watching nothing at all.

Something I've recently stumbled across is listening to some light '40s jazz. There's something about it that's soothing, and I guess, in a way, I feel like I'm sitting on the front porch of a rusted house following a nuclear fallout, sipping on some Nuka-Cola and watching two-headed dogs run by.

And you know what? I'm enjoying it.

There's something nice about sitting around with some music playing in the background and not feeling the need to do anything else. No plot to follow, no episodes to finish, and no list to check something off of. Just some music and whatever happens to be running through my mind.

I've spent so much of my life enjoying fictional worlds through television, movies, books, and video games that sometimes I forget my imagination can be entertaining all on its own. I don't always need a screen in front of me to escape for a little while.

And maybe that's what I've been missing. Not another television show or movie, but the opportunity to let my mind wander without needing something on a screen to guide it.

I'm not suggesting there's anything wrong with watching TV or spending an evening playing video games. Heck, I'll probably be doing both again before the week is over. But I do think there's something to be said for recognizing when you're no longer enjoying something and giving yourself permission to walk away from it for a while.

Instead of thinking something is wrong with me because I'm not enjoying TV right now, I'm realizing that maybe this is just my brain's way of telling me I need to disconnect for a bit. I don't need to find another show to binge or another movie to add to my watchlist. Sometimes it's enough to sit around, listen to some music, and enjoy the moment.

Those TV shows will still be there when I'm ready, and I've already accepted there's no way I can watch it all, so what's the rush?