When Does Play Become Work? | Idea Channel | PBS Digital Studios

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Why does entertainment increasingly feel like work? The Witcher 3 literally describes its side quests as contracts, every new movie seems like a must see, and every book that comes out IS JUST SO GREAT. Even as a human who's job it is to KNOW ALL THE THINGS, on this week's episode of Idea Channel, Mike laments the idea that no longer do we just enjoy things, we are required and tasked with enjoyment.
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Written and hosted by Mike Rugnetta (@mikerugnetta)
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[@neozasshi]

This came up at a great time. I was literally just thinking today like "Man, I'm gonna be real busy pretty soon. I should probably invest my limited free time right now in trying to catch up with some video games, movies, and tv shows that I've neglected. Which one should I do first? What's the best way to prioritize? How can I manage my time to get through the most of it as efficiently as possible?" I think this is why I tend to now only consume movies and shows and games that I'm convinced are going to be worth my time. If it doesn't have critical acclaim or doesn't look like it's tailored specifically to my own preferences, I probably won't engage in it. And I'm not sure if this is good because it means, you know, I'm being more selective with the entertainment I consume, or if it's bad because I'm conditioning myself to have a less diverse palate and be more judgmental of certain pieces of media that don't get 10/10s on IGN or 90% on Rotten Tomatoes. I kind of miss being able to just, like, watch a bad anime and just enjoy it because, hey it's an anime. Now I only watch anime after they've been out for a while and I know they have universal praise, which means I watch maybe one or two anime a year.

[@meunomejaestavaemuso]

You got know your taste man. I love watching movies, but most of the time the top-whatever list in Rotten Tomatoes have pretty much movies I don't like. I usually go the other way around, found lists of movies that have similar movies that I enjoy, and if let's say 20% of them I have already watched (and liked) I take my time to watch the other ones. Acclaimed title may be good, but they are not meant for everybody. Everyone loves Skyrim, I rather play Oblivion, totally more immersive for me, or Fallout New Vegas, which I found boring, while Fallout 3 was amazing, the narrative is a lot more linear, but It's a lot more engaging. And with old title it gets even worse, because there's nostalgia involved. I wouldn't play half the games I enjoyed as a kid because I know it would ruin their 'magic aura' (Tomb Raider 1~3, are good examples)

[@neozasshi]

Fernando Santos I tend to like a lot of things that are popular/critically acclaimed, and if I don't, I drop it pretty quickly. But how well something is rated by critics and audiences generally tends to coincide with my own capacity to enjoy it.

[@meunomejaestavaemuso]

neozasshi Well, so you got a lot work to do them :) The problem comes with series that have to much history or games with too many sequels. Playing all Final Fantasy games may be a good thing to do, but would take you years, or reading any comics with too many arcs and universes (I think this is one of the reasons I don't read comics). Or reading all the books of Song of Fire and Ice, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings... There are just too many things to do, and so little time. Even classic epics fall in this category, I really would love to read War and Peace. 1500 pages, not for me. That takes too much work. I rather go with short session movies, small books, or single games that don't have too many sequels/prequels, than to have to sit trough 10 seasons of any show, or 8~9 linked games (like assassin's creed, which I have played after each release, but wouldn't play now to 'catch up'), just because I 'might' like it.

[@seraaron]

neozasshi I am exactly the same, friend. I think for me it's been a very slow process of refining my tastes over the years, so that now I know exactly what I want to do whenever I have any free time. I very rarely get 'bored' per-say, because I don't have time to be bored. In that sense, I will prioritize playing new games/ watching new films/ etc when I can see that I'm going to like them, and then usually wind up re-playing/ watching all of my old favorites in the mean time, because I know that I like them. But this presents the same problem as always listening to the same music does, eventually you get tired of it. I still get excited when a favorite artist of mine produces a new piece of work though, and the same is true of game developers, directors and writers. The problem is finding new content to enjoy. When I pick a random game from my Steam library, install it, and play it: I often only give the game about 30 mins to entertain me, and if I can't immediately see that I'm going to rate it 8/10 or higher (on my own raking system) then I stop playing and uninstall it. The same is true of new series on TV/ Netflix, and even of films sometimes (though since films are a lot shorter, I'll sometimes watch it all the way through anyway). Finally there's youtube content. I regularly watch about 3 shows on youtube. But I always watch them. Whenever there's a new episode, practically everything else goes on halt. And I sometimes wind up wanting to watch a playthrough of a game (or an all cut-scenes/ movie-edit thing), rather than wanting the play the game myself, and I don't know why...?

[@jonaskristiansen781]

I feel like I`m having a good time while also being productive. I know it sounds wierd but what I mean by productive is that I feel like I have for example completed a show that`s highly regarded as one of the best that you should watch like Breaking Bad, Lost etc. When I have watched through the entire show it`s almost like a check list for me. Most of the time I enjoy every second of it but there are times like when I play Witcher 3 that I play just to finish it and it becomes work rather than entertainment. I`m glad I`m not the only one. Sometimes I even feel bad for not enjoying something as much as the majority does. That`s more to do with my mindset than anything else. I should really be more selective over what entertainment thats worthy of my time.

[@NerdSyncProductions]

This is something that I think about a lot. A while back, reading comics started to feel more like work than play. It went from a fun way to spend my afternoon to a homework assignment since I now make my living talking about comics in the internet. That can be kind of a sad thing, but it can also be pretty interesting. I no longer see comics as simple entertainment, but I now see them almost like textbooks. I started to study them not just for their face value, but everything deeper down from the history, art, culture, philosophy, and more! And all that was completely be accident. It just happened because I kept reading comics more and more and more to the point where I started seeing them differently. But the drawback now is that I can rarely ever enjoy a comic simply as something to do when I'm bored. Reading a comic has become work. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean that I had to find something else to do when I just want to relax. But I'm sure Netflix will start feeling like work pretty soon. Haha

[@gwkowe]

well said Scott

[@PopeyeTheVRMan]

***** This. This is exactly how I feel majoring in comic art! I loved drawing for fun, but now I have so many rules to keep track of it feels like work. I still enjoy it once I can get myself to do it, but I find that recently I'd rather play mindless video games instead.

[@agent42q]

***** shouldn't that depend on the comic? I mean some stuff is loaded with history, and philosophy and the whole nine. Or has depth due to being tied to a long running franchise. But some stuff is just fun, idk an Afrodisiac or the like.

[@NerdSyncProductions]

Wednesday's Serial I don't know. I think you can always find something to dissect. I was reading last night before I went to sleep, and I kept finding some fantastic future video ideas in random throw-away dialogue. Things that the writers probably didn't mean anything by became things that I sat down and thought about for a good while. Some of them I've still been thinking about all through today. It's really hard for me to shut my brain off and just read a comic for fun anymore.

[@agent42q]

***** sounds like you're having more fun :)

[@Trixiethegoldenwitch]

I have a great work-around for the things that I'm socially "meant" to consume, which is to read summaries and spoil myself for them. It's pretty easy for me to tell the line between something I'm going to watch or play because I enjoy it and will have a blast, and something that I feel more inclined to do out of obligation, and when it's the latter I can't often bring myself to actually consume it when there's other stuff I can be having more fun with. As someone who talks about media for a living, I also get the opportunity to every week get up and say, "hey, all you over there watching that boring thing I don't like! Check out the awesome stuff I'M watching that you've never even heard of! How 'bout you stop wasting your time with that show (btw, he dies at the end, so, there's that), and come join me watching this cooler show?" Since I love watching analytical videos and reviews, I also get to consume a lot of the stories I wouldn't want to in a format that fits better for me. Like, I'll probably never play the Witcher 3, but I can learn all of the things that are cool or interesting about it from the millions of analytical videos it will spawn, and that works out way better and more efficiently for me.

[@fokjohnpainkiller]

You and I mate, you and I. Nicely put too

[@romajimamulo]

***** Same here. I just don't watch a lot of the media I'm in the fandoms for, and let myself be spoiled on episodes without making an attempt to watch them

[@MissEdge102]

***** True, I watch a lot of analytical videos too for things that I like (your videos for example) and sometimes I'll learn something about it that I never would've seen just by watching it. By the way, your videos are awesome! Keep up the good work :)

[@TheZalor]

***** It's weird how I avoid one obligation of watching western TV shows by telling my friends I am an Otaku and if I am going to watch something it will only be an anime. But then have an obligation to watch anime, and read VNs, (or at least read reviews about such things as you do) so I can keep on track with online Otaku communities.

[@keephurn1159]

***** As both producer (amateur) and consumer, I find that I have to "sacrifice" media consumption to make time for producing media for others to consume. I mean, I used to ride the bus to work and back, and that gave me time to listen to podcasts, read books, etc. Now that I cycle in... pft. Can't safely do that. As it happens, I don't mind being pretty darn selective. I let friends test the waters and tell me what they think (fly my minions!), and if I'm intrigued enough, I'll get a copy of it to watch at some point. Or I'll read the summary so I know what it's about, what the buzz is. Hell, even watching fan gifsets on tumblr is enough for me to enjoy. Vicarious achievement unlocked! Meanwhile, I can do my art, doot doot doo...

[@OnlyLeigh]

Too true. Especially when your job relies on consuming "play" (such as critics, pop culture theorists or.. parody creators! )

[@SpineShank7]

I see nothing wrong with simply consuming what genuinely interests you and nothing else. Sure, take recommendations from friends, but don't waste hours watching something just because "Oh my god, have you seen the new episode of blah blah blah blah blah?!"

[@PopeyeTheVRMan]

Garth S I'm the kind of person who tends to enjoy things because I'm enjoying it with friends. A multiplayer game I hate playing alone is a blast with my buddies. A TV show I would have otherwise ignored becomes my favorite show when everyone is talking about it along with me. There are still things I enjoy on my own, but I generally also enjoy them more when friends are involved.

[@Barl3000]

Garth S Part of the enjoyment of media can come from being part of the zeitgeist and being in on discussions online and among your friends. That is, by consuming certain media you are part of a group. This can be a pretty short-lived, a games "it status" only lasts for a month or so. Sometimes this can turn into a regular fandom, especially if it becomes a series or is build to have a longer shelf life via online multiplayer. Take Shadow of Mordor, you could find new lets plays, articles and reddit posts about this almost every day back when it came out, but now you may see it mentioned in the context of "yeah that was a good game".

[@dawnwayfinder]

Garth S So, my Brother telling me that I'm missing out because I chose to not watch Frozen (until recently) is "work"?

[@iota-09]

Garth S funnily enough, i actually tend to avoid those things, no shit i don't like dark souls, doctor who, got, homestuck and so on, it feels like everyone only talks about that stuff.

[@djamilggmail]

Remy Bustani So? You are saying you have no interests developed by yourself? You are depending on your friends to say what will be interesting for you? You are depended on others opinion and have no of your own? To bearded PBS hipster - you want games to be mindless time-killers? No thanks! Play some mobile games they have no WORK for you to do if you pay well enough. Instant gratification and all that. And get your hands out of real thing. Games made this way BECAUSE you have to receive sense of achievement from doing something. You have to feel that your awesome reward for working toward better armor or character stats progression was well deserved. To ALL - Guys your interests should bring you to group with same interests not vice versa!

[@Yosi-Berman]

I decided I want to get in to star-trek. And then realized I have lots of "homework" to do. 3 seasons of the original show, 7 seasons of Next Gen, 7 seasons of DS9, 9 seasons of Voyager, 4 seasons of Enterprise, 10 movies from the originals and two new movies. While watching I felt like it was some work. I enjoyed it but damn. It also made me think about the Marvel cinematic universe and people of the future who want to catch up to the entire thing. It's going to be a daunting task! future will tell if it will work out.

[@Vocalinds]

Yosi Berman I did a similar thing with Star Trek in 2009 when the first reboot came out. I got through TOS and TNG, and I think... 6 movies? And then I just kinda stalled out. DS9 is not so much my storytelling cup of tea, so although many people told me it was totally worth the time required to get into it, I just wasn't willing to "work that hard." Now I look back on my stated goal to watch all 716 episodes and all the movies and think, "...but why??" There are other things that I would now prefer to spend time putting into my brain-space. In answering the question of "why," I think part of it lies in what Mike said about the pressure of "missing out." In 2009, I was part of a VERY active LiveJournal community (right before LJ died and was succeeded by Tumblr) that had sprung up around the reboot movie. Very active. Hours and hours making ridiculous in-jokes and fanworks. So there was a social pressure there to become more of an expert in Trek because in the group that I hung out in it was "cool." But not only that, the "repsonsibility" of consumption that Mike mentions was an swaying factor. I, being in life a very responsible person, decided to become a model citizen of culture consumption by responsibly consuming ALL of Star Trek. Like I would then get a straight-A report card of fandom. It took me some time to get through the amount of Trek that I did, since I had neither the means nor the inclination to binge-watch. By the time I got to the end of TNG and through several movies, the furor over the reboot movie had died down. When Into Darkness came out, the LJ community was dead and could not be resurrected. In the absence of that social pressure (and daily saturation with Trek-related things), it no longer seemed like a noble and necessary thing to watch all of Star Trek if I wasn't going to enjoy myself for a lot of it. And so I stopped. (This is a bit rambly by way of both responding to your comment with my own example, and trying to answer Mike's question at the same time.)

[@scribejay]

Yosi Berman Someone really needs to compile an entry-level list of Star Trek episodes because I know there is a large swath of TNG that you don't need to have seen. That goes triple for Voyager and Enterprise.

[@meunomejaestavaemuso]

Yosi Berman This is one of the reason when someone says 'you got watch this series' I always says, "I don't like series because they take too much time', I rather watch a movie or a read a book than watching a whole series.

[@malm5737]

Yosi Berman Yeah Star Trek is a monster. My friends and I all watched Deep Space Nine first and then went back to the others. For me it's less of shows feeling like it takes a lot of work and time but books. All of my friends are huge into books and I'm really into movies and shows so I'll start talking about this awesome movie that they will then start complaining about because it wasn't as good as the book. Personally I prefer movies and shows because I can multitask those. It's hard to play minecraft while reading a book, unless it's an audiobook which sucks when your trying to listen for creepers. So Star Trek isn't so bad for me but I also try to only watch or read things that are done. Game of Thrones has taught me the pain of waiting so now I try to only start things that are finished.

[@vulcanfeline]

don't forget 2 seasons of the animated series /facepalm. i've watched everything star trek, most of it the first time it played. the notable exception to this is i watched the pilot of enterprise and just said no. if someone was going to start wading into star trek, i would recommend TNG, Voyager with TOS once in awile. DS9 is rather boring, imo. most of the characters are flat somehow. and then there's a stupid season long war. part of the last (or 2nd last) season are really good when warf and jadxia hook up and i'm glad i didn't miss those. movies: 2, 4, 6, 8 were my favs. i'd make a list of which episodes are "important" to watch but that feels like too much work and given the idea of the day... hehe llap

[@perseusjackson16]

This is a good point and I think it's because when there is more than 1 thing that we can do for fun, we tend to put it on/in a list. Now when there are 3-4 items on this list I feel like people tend to think of completing a list as work. I feel the same when I put a bunch of books I need to read on a list. Sure looking at it I think its an incredibly monumental task, but in the moment where I'm engrossed in the story, the 'work' becomes play again.

[@Eagle3302PL]

perseusjackson16 Well said, I agree.

[@TheOnOfLostSouls]

perseusjackson16 that is so true, so many good books in the world

[@cybergarrett]

We should all be able to see you know what you are talking about because you have excellent taste in book series. FREAKING PERCY JACKSON!!!

[@jacobrogers4474]

There's an assumption here that work is bad, and I'm not sure that I agree with it. I'm a lawyer. I go to work and spend my day doing difficult research, delicate communications, organizing teams to tackle complex problems, and if I'm lucky thinking deep thoughts about law and public policy. My preferred leisure right now is League of Legends. I unwind from my high intensity day by...playing a high stress competitive game that requires strategic thought and organized team coordination. And if I'm lucky, I can spend some time on videos like IdeaChannel, where I can think deep thoughts on society and philosophy. I just like doing those things. I like my job, and I like doing it more in my leisure time. What makes it leisure is the ability to change focus by choice and the removal of pressure. As badly as I might do in a LoL game, feeding mid is not going to cost someone millions of dollars, which can't be said for mistakes in my day job. But yes, my leisure is work because working at challenging things is what I enjoy doing with my life.

[@Vocalinds]

Jacob Rogers "What makes it leisure is the ability to change focus by choice and the removal of pressure." I like that distinction - very succinct. I think this may be why I have always been somewhat resistant to friends telling me that I "have" to watch something... if they're pressuring me to do it that hard, it becomes significantly less leisurely in my mind. (There is also the added responsibility of not disappointing said friends if I don't like it as much as they do.)

[@Mastikator]

I have noticed that many games do indeed make you grind, when I notice that I'm not having fun I stop. I don't want to "work towards a goal", I want the journey to be good enough to stand on its own when it comes to hobbies.

[@EmberIslandPlayer]

YES, THIS IS SO A THING. Since leaving for college, I've gotten used to having an inordinate amount of free time. Through gaining a nerdy group of friends and hearing them wax poetic about their favorite games, movies, etc., I've developed this addiction to being entertained. It really does feel like work and entertainment. Plowing through the first four seasons of Game of Thrones this spring to catch up was highly enjoyable, but demanding as hell. The fear of missing out on something amazing fuels this need to consume ALL THE THINGS, as well as be disdainful of lesser-quality media, as it would be a waste of time. I feel this need to experience all of the best of pop culture, or I'm not getting the best possible level of entertainment to enjoy and talk about with friends. This has led me to cut people off when they say "Have you seen/played/heard/read X?" because I can't add another item to the list. Meanwhile my mom watches the Voice, plays Words With Friends, and sees about three movies a year, because she has less time and doesn't feel this burden (to the same degree at least -- she still catches up on her shows as soon as she's off of work).

[@avp802]

I think because time is a finite resource (like money), it becomes budgeted in our consumption of media. The 'opportunity cost' of spending time on a "playful" activity forces us to give up other enjoyable activities, and maybe this is what creates a crisis or rather that painful/work-like feeling of paying for play. So, in short, there is some economic trade-off going on there.

[@TheJeremyKentBGross]

I think you are on to something in a way, but ultimately you are choosing this. The real problem you may have is learning to say no. If something is more work than fun, stop it. (That's why i don't play MMO's: the fun is blocked by 100 hours of grinding fetch quests.) In fact why do you "have to" consume cuture at all? Leave your ipad at home and go sit in the park and stare at the trees. Spend the afternoon on your back cloud watching in mindfulness meditation. This can be much more rewarding. And if something isn't contributing to your life, drop it.

[@DarrinMichelson]

That whole concept of being able to set things aside was a major element of my therapy recently. Hear hear!

[@Its_PaPez]

I feel like this could be simplified into a basic equation for me. When is the work input more than joy output? Or maybe you can just take satisfaction knowing that all that hard work led to something cool like new gear or a perfectly bred shiny Pokemon.

[@Westerlywick]

I have a tumblr and I've found that when I am not particularly busy, it is easy to keep up with my dash, to see everything by checking in for about ten minutes in the morning, on my lunch and the evening. But then I have a few days where I am busy, out of town or otherwise unable to use the mobile app. On those days, I can't keep up and I shrug it off and assume I didn't miss much. But then I find out that friends I only know through tumblr may have posted news - good or bad - and I missed it and realize they were wondering why I failed to comment, congratulate or console them. I find that in the mix of reblogs, oitnb gifs and the latest memes, I missed something important. So now I get paranoid that I am scrolling through things and what started as fun now has me checking in on particular blogs outside my dash to make sure I am not ignoring friends I know both in real life and online. So I agree with the statement that my fun outlet can be work at times. (I'm still a sucker for video game sidequests though. I have no idea why. Maybe because even that "work" is more fun than my real job)

[@winterx2348]

There's that old saying of "if you do what you love for a living then you'll never work a day in your life." That saying is false, though. Even the funnest job in the world will feel like work at some point. That doesn't make it any less fulfilling, though. I would actually argue it makes it more fulfilling. Take Minecraft, for example. I built a huge upside-down castle hanging on the ceiling of the Nether. It took me sooooo many hours of my life of nothing but straight up work to build that thing, and it was almost torture for awhile. When I stepped back from the finished piece, though, all I could think about was how fun it was to build that castle, how much I learned from the experience, and how I want to build another one! Learning is the key to it all. Human beings love to learn!

[@rachelle2227]

You are also pointing out the joys of accomplishing something and the joys of production. I learned in one of my classes last semester that this is one of the basic human accomplishments that makes you happy and defines you (as only humans have this immense creative ability and means to create amazing things), but capitalism largely took this away from us, as few jobs involve genuine production. This is why we all feel the need to buy and buy, as our stuff becomes what defines us. For the masses, at least.

[@winterx2348]

rachelle2227 Never thought about it quite like that before. Thanks

[@rachelle2227]

No problem. I do a similar thing. I like to make houses in sims 3, and the larger ones can take many hours, and I love the accomplishment of finishing it, especially since I upload them for others to use. It's like, see, I am useful for something.

[@sophierose9281]

I actually experienced this much more as a teenger than I do now (I'm 23). I vividly remember relunctantly sitting down in front of MTV because I felt it was my duty to stay up-to-date on whatever Britney/Good Charlotte/Coldplay/[insert band of the moment here] were doing, whereas now I couldn't care less if it's not something I enjoy for myself. I think the main difference (for me at least) is that when you're in school, you live in much more of a closed-off culture, there's a herd mentality, and this idea that there is a clear, determined set of pop-cultural elements that you need to know to be cool and relevant, to feel like you belong to the group. Now, it feels like there is such a plethora of entertainment options, and ways of consuming them have changed so drastically (from watching whatever the television/radio serves you to streaming, downloading, browsing etc which I would argue is much more active and individualized) that everybody inevitably is going to find their own way. Part of this may be technology-based, but it probably also has to do with the whole hipstery transition we went through around 2010, where suddenly it became cool to NOT know what was happening in pop culture and to listen to artists no one had even heard of and wear obscure fashion brands. We show off our 'unique' tastes on Facebook and Spotify and Instagram and thus spread cultural content through our network without the interference of a directing agency such as a TV channel. Of course this could be seen as a form of 'work' as well - I definitely feel the pressure sometimes to find bands, shows, clothes etc that I both enjoy and that fit into this narrative I have of myself. We've emancipated ourselves as consumers but in the process turned ourselves into part of the product that's being consumed. I'm curious what people who are currently teenagers experience, because I might be conflating my own generational development with historical changes. Do you feel like there's a specific set of things in pop-culture that you really have to know to be relevant? Or do you feel more of a pressure to construct your own personal pop-cultural 'profile'?

[@AspectOfTheStorm]

I'm actually really happy you made a video on this topic as it actually goes well with another idea I've had for a while. See, I've learned that activities and experiences in retrospect are almost always better than in the moment. It's almost like your brain is comparing your current situation (like sitting at the computer at home), versus going to an amusement park with a bunch of friends. Of course your brain is going to say "Hey, that sounds way more fun than just sitting here", so naturally it makes you miss the experience and want to do it again. And while yes, it may be fun at the time too, in my experience, fun things can sometimes seem like a disappointment at the time. It isn't until months later that I've realized the impact that event had on my life. What's interesting is that sometimes you don't even notice yourself having fun. For example, we were extremely slow at work for about a week. I just sat there every day playing SNES games on my phone and just goofing off. It wasn't that I explicitly went out of my way in order to have a super fun time, I was just trying to pass the time instead. Looking back a few weeks later, I realized I actually had a really good time and would love to do it again. Now how does all this go with the topic of this video? Well recently I discovered something with video games. When I was younger, I loved playing games. Now that I'm 20, playing games almost seems tedious to me. Like I've just done it too much and have lost interest. But, here's where it gets kind of interesting. It isn't until the day after I've played a game that I realize how much fun it was. Despite all the not-so-fun task of grinding, leveling up, and all that hard work, I still somehow enjoy the experience afterwards. The same thing goes for movies too. I usually end up enjoying a movie more 2 days after I've seen it rather than right after the credits. I have a theory on why this is. I think your brain tends to filter out the unenjoyable aspects and leaves only the good. I think this has something to do with your brain's natural defence mechanism of blocking out bad memories and leaving only the good. This is why things always seem better in retrospect. You're thinking of that experience as a whole, with all the bad filtered out as much as possible. Of course, there is always the possibility that I'm unique and the only person who experiences this, but it's an interesting idea none-the-less.

[@MagnusN0R]

AspectOfTheStorm You are not the only one. I also experience what you are saying. I do belive the brain "filters" out the bad/tideous memories, but keeps the good ones, as a result making the experience of the entertainment better over time.

[@angellocastro9448]

AspectOfTheStorm Thanks for posting this. I think it is exactly what I needed to read right now. You hit very close to home.

[@gomennasai989]

14-year-old girl I think fandoms play a role in this work/play thing too. I mean: I like South Park, it's super fun, but I don't know who its authors are. If I were to meet a major South Park fan and talk about the show, I'm arfraid that he might end up hating on thinking something like: "How dare you say that you like South Park if you don't know it as deeply as I do? You're just a poser! You're not a 'true' fan!" It feels like you have to be super-obsessed about something and know it since no one else did to define yourself a "fan" of that thing. It's a status thing too: what you watch, or read, or listen to defines you, and you really want to know those media you like to make them become part of your soul (if not Your Entire Soul). You are the media you consume, but only the one you consume obsessively, so minor fans of stuff are just people who are pretending to like something so that they can have an identity. Poor souls, they'll never get one...

[@extblues]

I sort of apply a modified version of Nancy Pearl's "Rule Of 50" to my media intake. That is if, after reading fifty pages, an informed decision can be made to either finish it, or put it completely aside without guilt. To whit: video games (...the first hour), movies (ditto, although if it's in a theater I'm more motivated to stay for the whole thing and MST3K it in my head to get through the stupid/slow parts), and television shows (...the first three or four episodes - more than enough time to establish if the plot and character development are worth sticking with). Life is too short for bad media...

[@bifflechips-t5r]

Christopher Pruett When I got back to gaming, I put in 25 hours into Final Fantasy XIII, got stuck at a boss one afternoon, and put the game down, upset that I had run in a straight line for that long to complete a game I hadn't really cared what happened. Should have stuck it out for no more than a few hours.

[@extblues]

Jason Lasica Yeah, I can relate. I'm almost tempted to say that video game designers haven't quite leaned one of the more fundamental lessons of word-based entertainments (...and I include paper-and-pencil RPG's in this distinction as well): never commit the cardinal sin of boring your audience... Of course it's also possible I haven't been playing the right video games...

[@calwow02]

I have been binging on David Attenborough recently, and it occurs to me that 'play' in animals has always been related to future 'work'. The tiger cubs practicing pouncing and hunting their siblings prepares them for their future occupation as a hunter for example. Parents concern themselves with socializing infants through play dates to assure they can function successfully in social environments. Perhaps it is an evolutionary imperative that makes us choose leisure activities that strengthen our social bonds, and as the number of social bonds increase the more activities we feel we must engage in to support those bonds increases in a vicious cycle.

[@Zerepzerreitug]

_tl;dr: Peer pressure via social media is the real problem here, not the amount of content. Also, flame wars have become the way to counteract this. Ej: By being a Star Trek fan and hating Star Wars, you're also excusing yourself from "having" to consume all the media of the Star Wars catalog_ I suspect that the real culprit here is the new way how peer pressure works and how we're not used to it just yet. You said that the media police won't storm into your house if you don't watch the latest tv series, but your friends and acquaintances, as well as the cultural zeitgeist on the tumblr's and facebooks you frequent _will_ most definitely notice if you are not up to speed on the obligatory media of the day. So for instance, I haven't watched Game of Thrones nor intend to anytime soon. And because of that I'm missing out on tons of memes, inner jokes, character references and discussions about real-life situations that use Game of Thrones metaphors and similes to make their point. I cannot tell you how many times I've "been inside" an internet crowd that is listening some Game of Thrones reference and they're all nodding with their heads knowingly while I just stand there confused. And I think *that's* the real issue here. We've adopted on the Internet the language of popular media as our dialect, folklore and mythology to communicate, bond and internalize the world. It is almost our "religion" or our "holy book" we draw quotes from, but the problem is that this particular scripture changes and expands every single day as pop culture evolves and franchises go up and down the popularity levels. I even think this situation already has ways to control itself. Just like religions and cultures fragment as they become too large and spread out, the larger Internet crowd constantly fragments into two or three "groups" who are ideologically separate from one another and who actively _reject_ to watch the media of their counterparts, taking great pride in their abstinence. This lessens the cognitive load of being updated on their ever-changing scriptures by labeling whole swaths of pop culture as forbidden or taboo. Have you seen all those flame-wars between fans of different franchises or shows? By hating a certain genre or series, you are also excusing yourself from _having_ to watch such series. I don't watch Twilight, Harry Potter or Game of Thrones just because I don't like them. There's a practical, conscious or not, reason behind it as well. And what's more interesting. If I start to feel pressured into watching certain media I don't have the time to watch, it becomes almost inevitable that I will unconsciously begin to search for excuses or counterarguments why I dislike such media. And if not, then maybe I'll start finding reasons to reject the people who do like it. Any excuse is a good excuse to free up our time.

[@skykid]

A subtopic you never brought up is MMORPGs which are nothing but work, really. In fact it's work we pay to do. There's obviously epic events taking place and competitive aspects that we might consider play, but in order to go to those things we generally have to invest a significant amount of time working to reach them. I think you touched on this idea of being able to control the world in which we're working and that's what makes it play, and that's totally true for MMOs. It's not that it isn't work, but that we are much more powerful in a variety of ways in MMOs, and the work that we do is much more exciting than the work we do in real life. Or at the very least, even if it's just making furniture for a player home or scanners for some star ship, the game has set these limited parameters that can be reached in a foreseeable amount of time with much less effort than a real craftsman could hope to achieve them in. Essentially, MMOs ARE work, but they give us the sense that we're doing something both substantial AND achievable, in a very exciting context.

[@jamesbuchanan1913]

I think there is an interesting underlying assumption in the question: that something being like-work is something being dull or tedious. This is true of a lot of work, because modern work is so often alienating. I think a lot of pop culture can be alienating too. When playing a video game, you're playing by the rules of a faceless mass you've never met and this is often as tedious as following your corporations inscrutable rules at your customer service jobs. However, two of my favorite hobbies board-game design and knitting are very different. When I'm designing a board game, I constantly evaluating and re-negotiating my rules with the play-testers. When I'm knitting I may follow a pattern for a short time, but ultimately I do whatever I think is best fully responsible for and invested in the final product. So these are my own least work-like hobbies. Ironically, I also consider them both work. I can and probably will sell the finial products of both endeavors online. So I don't think the work/play distinction is really what's happening here. I think the real distinction is the alienating extrinsic vs. the intimate intrinsic.

[@gmcanally]

James Buchanan Another knitter/ board-game designer! That's now three that I know of, including myself.

[@jamesbuchanan1913]

We should start a political party!

[@princessjellyfish98]

I've found that being in high school makes this extra challenging because the pressure to fit into social groups is sort of magnified, and you're trapped in a sort of social bubble where you have to be friends with at least some of the people in your school, so in order to be in a friend group you have to consume the same media and talk about it. That, coupled with the seriously limited amount of time that high school students have with the combination of extra curriculars and hours of homework means that a lot of times you'll sit down to watch something your friends told you to watch and you just can't get through it, whether it's because you're physically exhausted or you're too stressed over your workload or you're just wondering "why am I even watching this?". With such limited free time, stress can even be derived in just finding something you enjoy doing. There is so much media and so many people in your life telling you what you need to see or play that finding what you actually enjoy and what entertains you can be difficult and stressful, not to mention trying so many different pieces of media and then not finishing them can give you a sense of unfulfillment or laziness, and it ruins social interaction. I haven't finished the new season of Orange is the New Black, which is do genuinely enjoy, and I can't say why I haven't finished it, but every time I see my friends they ask me if I've finished it and I have to say no and then that social interaction is immediately over. It feels awkward and uncomfortable. The pressure to watch what other people are watching is magnified when you watch or play something that no one else you know watches or plays. Then you become the person badgering other people to consume a piece of media, and that's also uncomfortable and exhausting. The vast amount of media available makes both consuming it and sharing it a task or a chore, because it involves sorting through millions of hours of content, finding something worthwhile, and then convincing others that it is worthwhile in comparison to the other millions of hours of consumable media. It becomes a chore just like homework or a rehearsal after school.

[@roset6043]

Sorry, but firstly I have to argue that it's unfair to claim that only pop-culture (by which I mean, the hottest latest media on offer, not snarky references to Disney) aficionados have this problem and that therefore it's a new thing. I am not particularly driven to keep up with the latest series/films et al, but I *am* completely obsessed with crafting and making things, and so I always have handfuls of projects on the go at any one time, and of course there is never enough time in a day to get them all done. One week I might finish a table I've been making and the week after I might start two new sewing projects, meanwhile my cupboards are full of half-finished flotsam. It's all just as much fun as watching a great series, but it definitely gets away with me and I definitely feel the same work/play angst as described in the video. This leads me to my second argument which is that I'm not sure whether 'there's too much awesome stuff for me to do and the pressure to keep up is outta control!!!' is actually the right way to describe the frustration being discussed here. I suspect it is more to do with a nagging displeasure about the fact that a modern, working life (in general) does not allow a person enough free time to pursue all the hobbies they enjoy to the extent that they would like. And if that is the real problem at hand, then surely 'twas ever thus? In a way, not having enough time to do all your hobbies in huge long sessions just makes the time spent doing them all the sweeter - you really cherish that one episode of House of Cards which you manage to squeeze in at the end of a long day, whereas five episodes watched in a binge when you're off sick don't give the same kind of pleasure. If I had to spend all day crafting, *then* it would feel like work and I wouldn't enjoy it or feel motivated to do it after a while.

[@PanmyxiaYT]

When I'm at my real life job, I'm always checking the time. I'm waiting for my shift to end. I'm figuring out how many hours and minutes I have left. Over 100 hours into The Witcher, and it's not something I think about at all. I have tasks I need to do, much like my real job, but the difference is that I enjoy it, and time spent playing isn't an issue. I'm sure that if I got a job that I liked, then work wouldn't feel like "work", it would just become the thing I do on a daily basis and happen to get paid for it.

[@michaelecheverri8757]

I think it's interesting that Witcher 3 is what incited this episode because I've always seen an interesting symmetry between fantasy RPGs and the system of capitalism. Like capitalism tries to sell itself as an adventure (think of venture capitalists and the weird romance of stocks and finances) and conjures up the image of the supremely capable individual as its ideal. But in reality it is a system built upon hours and hours of drudgery, economic anxiety, and extreme stratification. Fantasy RPGs also, much more literally, try to sell themselves as adventures and trumpet the "chosen one" as their ideal. But they are in fact centered around fetch quests, combat grinds, and, due to leveling, very real and objective inequality. Not to mention the worlds of RPGs are highly materialistic, money and items being a primary goal/reward. Gotta grind for that fat loot and what not. The player character is nothing more than a glorified middleman of destiny, a cosmic errand boy. The character is without narrative agency, only able to interact with the story through the quests of others (always an employee, never an employer). And the quests aren't really personally-related to the player ("chosen one" apparently being another way to say "anyone") and not only that but they are generally devoid of expressive potential. So the quests are impersonal, inexpressive, and, arguably, coercive; They are alienated labor. And like Mike said, employment, contracts, and labor are used in-game to contextualize play, especially in the Witchers series. (The Witcher games come kinda close but I'm still waiting for a really cool Marxist deconstructionist fantasy RPG). Even further blurring the line between fantasy and capitalism, work and play, is the fact that people make a living by playing games. In this instance I am referring not to gamer athletes so much as gold farmers. Gold farmers are individuals, usually from developing countries and impoverished background, grind and earn in-game currency that they then sell to other players, usually affluent individuals from the West, in exchange for real world currency. This is generally illegal and banned by the game companies but hang stopped the creation of a large shadow economy, global in scale and full of labor abuses. Capitalism and the West spawned some of the most popular RPGs, and so it's not surprising that these fantasies are built in their image, blemished by the same inequalities and the same alienation. (World of Warcraft, Skyrim, Diablo, and the Witcher series are the games I was thinking of when writing this comment)

[@mnemot]

the end tag made it sound like I was watching Mr. Show's pre-taped call-In show for a moment

[@DroidFreak36]

As an music, movie, and video game enthusiast, I see media not as work, but as art. It may require a bit of effort to engage with art, but if you truly engage with it you will come away knowing a bit more about the world and appreciating art a bit more. And even if engaging with art can be frustrating at times and seem like work, it is still worth doing.

[@DroidFreak36]

DroidFreak36 Also, I tend to limit my media consumption to things which I consider artistically excellent. There's no point engaging with bad art. ;)

[@ALIENjoy]

DroidFreak36 lol you might as well say you only consume things you like :p art is subjective, what you see as bad art may be brilliant to others. (i know im stating the obvious LOL sorry if it came off as condescending)

[@DroidFreak36]

Weeneen Ala'hadouanan I believe there is objective value to art. There is definitely a subjective element as well, but I strive to expose myself to objectively good art, including things I wouldn't normally be interested in. For instance, even if a movie is in a genre that I'm not as interested in, if it seems like a good movie (and other people say it is) then I am likely to watch it anyways. Or say if a song isn't my kind of music, I try to still appreciate it in an objective sense. This perspective allows me to widen my horizon and increase the variety of art that I can appreciate. Even though I personally prefer art of a certain sort, if I recognize that preference I can try to put it aside to find artistic value beyond things that I like. With that said, this perspective also enables me to see lack of artistic value in media, even media that I otherwise like. Tuning myself to artistic value makes it pretty obvious when something is poorly made. For instance, I can tell you that The Book Of Life had pretty terrible character development. I definitely liked it and could see value in some aspects of it, but when the only character development in some characters is them suddenly deciding to be nice for no reason, my bullshit sensors light up.

[@ALIENjoy]

DroidFreak36 while i can agree on the front of there being an objective value to art, i guess i am just confused as to what your definition of "bad art" is. does it have to do with the artist's intentions, or one's analysis, or some intangible combination of the two? because while we could objectively say films such as plan 9 from outer space, the room, and sharknado are "bad", it is the idea that they _are_ bad that has people engaging with them for the most part. or perhaps those are just outliers and not to be appraised on the same level as "serious" art..? haha. just meandering here.

[@DroidFreak36]

Weeneen Ala'hadouanan I don't think any art should be considered bad for being not serious. I'd say art is bad when it is not creative, poorly made, or inconsistent. Those aren't necessarily the only criteria, but they are ways in which art can be less good. They aren't properties of the artists intentions or the analysis, per se, they are properties of the art itself. Although societal influences certainly have an impact on what is considered creative, well made, and consistent. The first time someone does something, it's considered creative, but if people keep copying it, it is considered less creative. Likewise, a movie that was well-made years ago doesn't look as good as modern movies, and movies that are seen as consistent today would be seen as confusing to the first moviegoers. So art must be judged against the context of culture.

[@BenjaminSimonsen]

just got back from holiday and now i have a long work day ahead of me, catching up on viewing all the videos in my youtube subscription box, no joke, this videos was one of them.

[@lildwarflikes6386]

EVERYTHING I HAVE BEEN FEELING FOR THE PAST YEAR IS IN WORDS O_O

[@AxeToday]

It's very much like whenever you're a small child and you say you're bored. Your parent responds with "but there's so many things to do around the house!" and you can't explain why you don't want to do those things. Only kids seem to understand its all just work!

[@cainfft008]

ALL HAIL HYPNOTOAD!

[@MrDrewwills]

Being a 15 year old (so not that many responcibilities) that enjoys movies, anime, cartoons and TV shows I do feel like play is work at times. In that with all my friends telling me to watch this, read that, see this etc. I need to manage and organise my time and watch this many episodes a day and it just feels like a chore.

[@chloeelkins5599]

I'm 17, and I know exactly how you feel. All my friends were Netflix binge watching the office. I had already seen it and liked it, so I started to too. But I'm a busy person and my friends are less busy of people, so before I knew it, they were far ahead of me. So I spent as much of my free time as I could catching up, as if it were some sort of social homework. I wouldn't have spent my time doing that if my friends hadn't in the first place. I eventually gave up, as they were into seasons 6 or 7 while I was just midway through season 2. So a piece of entertainment turned into like work for me, and seeing my friends every day at school solidified the meaningfulness of my completion of this work.

[@emilyniedbala]

I have OCD, and as what I think is part of it, I feel like every new show I get invested in I have to keep on top of it and ensure I see every episode as soon as I can and under the right conditions. Some of my favorites I feel like I need to watch them as they air live, others I’m okay with recording and watching later in the week, but with as of right now 7 shows with new episodes every week (and a few more still yet to come back from break) it seems like a huge task to keep up with the sheer amount of it.

[@mxmissy]

When I was in high school (finished year 12 in 2013) it felt like watching KZbin videos, TV shows and the like was work, and even now that I'm still studying, playing games, keeping up to date in TV shows and what not feels like work.

[@WulffDen]

Red Dead Redemption ends up becoming a Farming Simulator at the end of the game, but if you stick through the short monotony it has one of the best out-of-nowhere endings of all time.

[@EmiliaNobrega]

An under -18 person here : One thing that I noticed a lot this past year for me was that I was saddled with a lot of school work, which really most of the work that young people have. I started procrastinating on work that I didn't want to do with work that I did want to do but didn't necessarily have to get done at the time. I think that that is what I had really been doing with other media in the past, so perhaps it was some form of work. Heck being in fandoms and keeping up with all the new memes that come out so that you don't seem out of it is a social-based form of work in of itself!

[@Quixotic1018]

I wonder how much play feeling like work is related to just general socializing in the context of the internet age, or technology in general. Even just 20 years ago, consuming pop culture was generally limited. Movies weren't as easily pirated, netflix didn't exist, and with fewer television channels, big pop culture events like Johnny Carson's last show or watching either Neil Armstrong or Michael Jackson moonwalk all happened as a single event. Today, there's the people that saw/read/played things first and the rest are playing catch up. Even with video games, I remember it was common for one or two friends to get the big "it" game and we'd go over to their house and play it. Today, each friend can get the game and we can play online. I think what it boils down to is the evolutionary need to (a) socialize and (b) keep busy. Leisure time is a relatively new experience to human civilization and maybe technology is changing faster than we can adjust so the lines between keeping busy and socializing blur with the concept of just enjoying oneself.

[@pinkmapviolin]

I'm 17 and I consume a lot on the internet; it's basically my life. But I consume a lot of different things that I have equal interest in: I read articles and watch videos about politics, culture, sociology, feminism, racism, TV, music, in addition to watching a lot of old and new TV and listening to and discovering a bunch of music. I find all of these things enjoyable but it does get a little overwhelming. In particular, I've found a difference between consuming news and academia and consuming entertainment. I enjoy both, and I want to be a political science major in college, but consuming news and articles examining complicated issues start to feel like work because I am actually THINKING about what I am reading/watching and consciously or unconsciously I am trying to come up with solutions to the problems and analyze them. That starts to drain me after awhile, whereas watching TV is a passive experience that I don't have to think about if I don't want to. I only start thinking about TV when I'm reading about it or talking about it. So when talking about this you have to kind of define what you mean by "play" because although two things may be equally enjoyable, consuming an equal quantity of those things can feel very different. Also, everything that is "play" also has at least some element of work to it. People say that if you do what you love you never work a day in your life, but that's not exactly true. For example, I am a serious classical violinist and have considered it as a career. I love it, but practicing SUCKS. PLAYING is fun, but in order to do that I have to practice. You can apply this to media consumption too, in the sense that, as you mentioned, playing through or learning how to play a video game or trying to get into a show that's been recommended can become work, but the accomplishment you feel afterwards makes it worth it. Another thing I've experienced is that during school months, I feel none of this fatigue. When I'm procrastinating on homework, actual work that I do not want to do, any media at all is better than doing that, so I never get bored, never feel like it's too much, and never get tired. That's when the play is truly PLAY, meaning that it is the opposite of work and I am doing it because I don't want to do work. Anyway, those are my experiences. If other people said the same things then I hope you feature my comment as a representative ;-). Love your channel!

[@emilyniedbala]

The ads stopping when you close your eyes prediction reminds me of the episode of black mirror where like every wall was a screen

[@ComplacentBadger]

Watching this with the perspective of a GM, the answer is clear. I have to put in hours of "work" every week so myself and my players can have a good time. While I enjoy it most of the time, a labor of love, it still is me not playing. Its reading, writing and calculating. I would say I plan and work for a game of D&D and the like more than I play. While on the subject of tabletop games, board games and miniature games follow a similar path. There is a bar of entry that is the rule book. You need to either read or have someone explain it to you before you can enjoy it. Its studying prior to having fun. While I love my hobbies, keeping all these things in mind helps me remember why not everyone loves my hobbies.

[@SpencerWalshthemoviereviewer]

As a movie fan I feel that there are certain films you have to watch like the godfather and Kubrick's entire filmography. And with having to watch them it feels more like a checklist than the experience as it was initially intended. This idea very much goes along with the 'nerd cred' ideas brought up in the hipster episode, the paradox I feel of being a film fan is like trying to kill the hydra. If you watch one film you had to watch to "officially" call yourself a film fan, you have 2 more films you have to watch. Do in many ways I do agree. The fear of feeling like an outsider, especially online, is a real fear most fans try to stay ahead of but we just get drowned in the abundance of content. And speaking of the Internet, the pyrimad/ content creator-consumer relationship at the beginning of the video has been completely destroyed since KZbin was invented because it completely blurred the line between creator and consumer.

[@RyanJohnson]

As a workaholic programmer, I'm happy to see this.

[@galerius07]

I recently realized that I've been spending more and more of my free time doing the recreation I felt like I should be doing instead of the recreation I wanted to do. Not only was it making me miserable, but I got stuck in this limbo of procrastinating my recreational activities but not doing the things I actually enjoyed, so that I just wound up watching youtube videos all day. Since then I've decided to only spend recreational time doing what I actually wanted to do, and it's so much better. I"m reading more, exercising more, and I've taken up painting. I still do a little of the things that I felt pressured to do before, but only when I genuinely want to do them.

[@LaIraRavenous]

I think this is one of the main reasons why walkthrough videos are something on youtube. They save you some time than actually playing and add an extra of entertainment by the player commentary.

[@SomeMcPerson]

I can greatly relate to 'play' being 'work' and for me it most frequently resonates through D&D. I spend significant time outside of our sessions planning the evolution of my character: evaluating their motivations, deciding their spells, thinking toward future levels. When we're gaming and I can tell another player hasn't thought about their next action, let alone their character's next level I want to shout "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? WHERE'S THE DEDICATION??" Then I have to remind myself that this is just fun, and some people have vastly different approaches to 'fun' than I do.

[@hannahb.9565]

I know this is an older video, but I think it hits on a lot of things I've been feeling recently. It might just be because I am currently studying media in college, which I do enjoy and find interesting, but everything just seems like it is work. It feels like I have to at least be somewhat knowledgeable about certain shows or movies or video games in order to just have a conversation with someone and be able to discuss different trends that are happening. And things that I used to just enjoy and watch or play in my free time for fun or to relax, I know feel as if I have to over analyze it and pick it apart, as if it is now expected of me to do just because of what I am studying. It just gets to be very exhausting most of the time. The only time that I do not feel like I am working is when I have time to draw, because I am only doing it for myself and because I enjoy it, not because it feels as if it expected of me to do so.

[@AnimaAnamaris]

This really got me thinking, because, at the moment, I'm living in country where I don't speak the language. It's harder for me to communicate with others, and because of this I don't feel socially obligated to watch, play or read anything in particular. However, when I go home, and am bombarded by these conversations I can't be a part of because I have no idea what it is, I feel obligated to look it up and try it just to be able to get back in the loop.

[@XerxesTexasToast]

Near-17-year-old (next month), and a lot of my musing on this subject has brought me to realize that I actually don't have a responsibility to consume media, because a lot of it involves me wanting to do what my friends recommend. It was basically a journey of realizing that this stuff was meant for play, not work, so I can do whatever I want with it whenever I want because I have no real responsibility to do so. It's been pretty liberating, mentally at least. Relevant points: -I love KZbin's Watch Later feature; I have over 50 videos on it at any given time (I'm watching this from it as I type). -Autoplaying embeds are fucking awful. "Shut up, Facebook, I'm trying to watch Idea Channel in another tab!" -Everything in this video sums up why I'm not a brony yet. I never feel like binging the show because it just isn't the right kind of interesting. It IS a kid's show, and a good one at that, but I'm much better at getting into kid's games than kid's shows. I just don't watch much TV, okay?

[@thisexists]

I spent five years working on a book about the history of Canadian punk and after it was published the very act of listening to / reading about music felt like work and somehow I got really into... sports? As far away from proto-hardcore 45s as possible.

[@Makutakanuva]

It's interesting. We're hooked on bonding with each other. When you haven't play/seen/read something that your friend wants you to play/see/read, they're stumped. They wanted to talk to you about it. They wanted to connect over it, to share their opinions and emotions. When they found they couldn't, their next solution is the long game -- they tell you to consume the media, so that they can get that experience later. It's a really pleasant world we live in, that everyone just wants to share with each other and find common ground with everyone.

[@hennyzhi2261]

I used to fall into the trap of turning all my entertainment into work because I tend to come from a very max/min background of free time. Habits like reading at least two chapters of a book a day and questing for optimal gear for my video game characters by looking up wikis were hard to break away from. The important thing that's kept my hobbies fun is learning to treat media not only as a product or service but also as an experience. You can be smart and do things as efficiently as possible, but it doesn't really tell you why you do something - and if your not happy in the moment it's not worth wasting your time. Most of my fondest memories of entertainment aren't about complete spreadsheets filled with statistics. There about discovering things on a whim. I can't let people recommend things for me because in a selfish way I have to make it mine first, but it's really the only logical way to find enjoyment. I'm never going to feel the same way my friends do about entertainment as a whole; if you try to you set yourself up for disappointment. In a capitalistic society, this disappointment is more favorable to content creators because the moment people start taking responsibility for their own experiences is when their most likely to be picky about what they buy. Call of Duty sells to the widest general audience most likely because the vast majority of it's demographic knows they have friends who will play it - sometimes this is ironic because both parties are only buying it under the false assumption that other friends enjoy it (which very well may be the case, but with the amount of people the game reaches it becomes harder to argue that). On the flip side you find consumer critics like Total Biscuit whom take responsibility for their personal enjoyment because they expect more from what video game developers make, and John Bain has made a significant impact on the games industry for standing on principles that go against capitalistic manipulation.

[@asliwins337]

Pursuing media consumption is basically the work one does to pay for social interaction with others. It gives you the social currency of conversation topic; so while it can be viewed as work to consume that consumption is itself the currency that we receive in return.

[@gyrosean]

I'm in the strange position whereby consuming media & knowing what's going on in popular culture is my job. I work in advertising. And funny thing, watching Idea Channel is...kinda...work for me. Congratulations Mike, you are part of my assessment of what makes popular culture popular culture. And while I can't consume all the media, I try. I have to make sure that, when I talk to creative teams, when I brief new campaigns, that I have an intimate knowledge of what is happening on TV, in music, tech, Film, KZbin, etc. There are entire agencies in advertising whose sole job is to consume, understand, and the impart knowledge of culture to their clients (Sparks & Honey). I work to understand culture so that the people we've tasked with impacting it don't have to. It's as if popular culture has become so vast that the knowing and the making have to be split into separate jobs, because 1 person doesn't have enough time to do both. And it's almost inspires this sick, crazy desire to be the first person to know something at work. And I do think that, while open offices encourage the sharing of information, it also creates this fervor to know more than everyone else. An arms race of cultural expertise. But maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just outing myself as a culture addict. Meh...

[@mhaire100]

I think the line is somewhere around when something becomes an obligation versus a distraction from obligations.

[@SableMelody]

This is such a big problem for me! I used to run a fandom blog on tumblr for shows/movies (and games sometimes).. and in my mind it was a form of active consumerism as opposed to passive consumerism, and it was really good having a platform to talk about issues and discuss media with other fans and having that sense of community but at some point it became almost like a job that i wasn't getting paid for and that I could no longer keep up with.. So I've been on a hiatus for a couple months while I figure out how to make blogging and watching TV fun again.

[@waaurufu]

I'm reminded of Mark Twain's Life on the Mississippi where he talks about how since he had worked on a river boat so long he could no longer enjoy the river but only see the work and dangers in it. I think media we love can become like that, especially if it ends up becoming our job. It's part of the loss of innocence of growing up, whether or not we like to acknowledge this truth.

[@Mickey687]

Something I've heard a lot is, when I mention that I haven't seen/read/played/experienced something that's hugely pop culturally recognized, something like "You haven't lived, if you haven't seen Mean Girls/Star Trek/Titanic!" or "We need to fix this!" The pop cultural obligation to consume media is something that has strong social enforcement. I'm still learning how not to feel guilty for being out of the loop. (Which is largely related to my social anxiety, but I digress.)

[@n.m.8728]

I have a 24 page word document that is my reading list. I usually don't take it too seriously but every now and then I have a day where it stresses me out a lot. I have definitely had many occasions where keeping up with TV shows or books or whatever has started to feel like work. That's usually the point at which I cancel my Netflix and return my library books and find something else to do, and after a while I am sort of refreshed and able to enjoy those things again without feeling pressured by them.

[@SurgeOfD]

Consuming contemporary media isn't my job so I have the added stress of opportunity costs associated with watching a season of this or that show or an open world game that just came out. This is why I like reading game blogs and watching channels like this. A ten minute article or video will give me all the information to stay relevant in a conversation on the topic, without the burden of having to spend time experiencing it myself. The time I have left I can spend doing what I really want to do without the pressure of popular culture. Sometimes I just do nothing, it's nice.

[@ericvilas]

Thank you! ThankyouthankyouTHANK YOU for this video! My "need to do" list is overflowing to such an extent that you.... here, I'll break it down. Basically, I have KZbin, TV series, movie, games, and webcomics. I have 400+ hours of Let's Plays organized into neat little folders that I need to watch at some point. I counted. I've had those for 2 years. I started using episode-alert to keep track of all my TV Shows (Apparently I'm in the 99th percentile, with 13800 unwatched episodes from 130 different shows). The list's only getting longer and longer, and I can't keep up! And I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED KORRA OR AGENT CARTER OR CAUGHT UP WITH AGENTS OF SHIELD YET!! My Watch Later playlist has literally over a thousand videos in it because freaking college and sleep and exams don't let me stay up to date, I've had to miss out on the Lego Movie episode until 3 days ago, when I _finally_ got around to watching it, and OH MY GOD THIS IS ABSOLUTELY EXHAUSTING! I haven't even *_SEEN_* the Orphan Black episode, which came out A YEAR AGO, because I haven't seen the first 2 seasons yet! By the way. For the past few weeks you talked about PBS Game/Show. You know what that means? A whole other set of backlogged stuff to watch. Oh, and speaking of games... No. I'm not even gonna get into that. I'm gonna put my well-thought-out response in another comment because this ended up being a rant.

[@RobskiBobskiPower]

That thing about adverts that pause when you stop watching reminded of the show Black Mirror. In the episode Fifteen Million Merits people earn money, or credits, merits, etc., by riding gym bikes. But credits can only really be spent on food, and entertainment; Specifically avatar items and extra programming, or more disturbingly, skipping adverts and programs you don't want to watch. The media is like work because participation is required or it'll cost you! I recommend you check it out! :)

[@applepi192]

This dichotomy of work and play is really interesting in the context of an artist and artmaking. Having gone an art college, I was in the unique position where an activity I had once considered play turned into work. In high school most of my more pleasurable free time was devoted to drawing and painting, but in the new context of school where those activities where my work, myself and other friends started to have this dilemma of school vs personal work. We found it increasingly difficult to have pure "play" artwork because the actual task being completed was so similar to the "work" artwork. Having now graduated I'm struggling with this work/play dichotomy even more so, because many of my "personal projects" now have end product of being something I would make money from, but at the same time freelance work is also an end product that I also make money from. In both cases, both work and play have the ultimate goal of a business transaction and that leads to a different mindset when it comes to the balancing of time for each. As a type A person, I tend to lean to focusing more time on the more traditional "monetary" work but as I'm putting more and more time into both the line is so blurred, it's very difficult to tell the difference between my play and work. As my best friend put it, "if my hobby is art, and art is my job, do I really have a hobby?"

[@Cae_the_Kitsune]

You basically just summarized everything I hate about everything I love, ergo, why my friends and I procrastinate doing the things we like to do.

[@jameswood9512]

I think it is a bit like the square-rectangle situation. While all play is work, not all work is play, there is a fine line between the two. This also makes me think about beta testers for games and lets players, these peoples jobs are to play, how does that affect their perception of what is play and what is work?

[@ScienceAsylum]

I think you have to be really careful about what you mean by "play" and "work." Traditionally, when people compare those two words, "play" means "things they enjoy doing, but usually don't have to do" and "work" means "things they have to do, but usually dislike doing." Under those definitions, I think play becomes work when you stop enjoying it, which can be caused (or at least exacerbated) by the feeling that you now /have/ to do it. When that happens to me, I just stop consuming that thing for a while. If it's a game, I can save and come back later. If it's a popular TV or KZbin show, I remember they're always available and, if I wait so long that there's too much content to catch up, then I'll just read a short synopsis and start back up with the most recent episode. If it's social media, I'll eventually get the low-down from someone. None of these situations is the end of the world... no matter how much they may, at times, feel like it. We have a finite time to live. It should be spent maximizing "play" and minimizing "work."

[@Kruglord]

Man, does this video ever speak to me. A huge portion of the media I consume isn't done because I especially enjoy it, but because I want to 'keep with the times,' to be able to keep up in a conversation with my friends, so I can get all the references on the internet that I wouldn't normally even know are references ("For the watch!" Shame, shame, shame!")

[@FaisalGAA]

watching Idea channel sometimes is work for me, I might not be very interested in the topic but I don't want to miss out on the video.

[@mycharliequinn]

Is this an affliction of the middle classes? "does it feel like work?" personally, no. not at all. but then again I also haven't watched or read or played any of the things you mentioned. actually I've probably only seen a fraction of the stuff that my friends are really excited about. I feel it's probably relevant that I've almost always lived in relative poverty. Relative poverty is different to absolute poverty because it's relative to my surroundings. I've never actually been at risk of starvation or lack of basic health care, but also the only time I go to the movies is when someone else pays to take me to the movies. That's the way it's pretty much always been. My friends go to the movies every weekend, wander into book stores and come out with five new books, and buy video games and the computers to run them. When I do consume that stuff it is often literally a gift. A movie ticket purchased or a loaned dvd or book. I don't even torrent movies or shows because I don't pay for the internet and the family member who does set up a firewall that blocks torrents. poking a hole in the firewall of the internet I don't pay for seems like a bit of a dick move. I also don't feel like I'm being left out of anything. like, I WANT to see parks and recreation because I'd like to give those gifs a greater context, but I don't feel like I'm supposed to have seen it already. There's just this beautiful thing that exists in the would that I might maybe see one day, but I also might not. I don't feel any more "left out" for not taking part in this media than americans will feel left out on canada day. It's just... not for me. It's for people with disposable income, which is not me. there's another difference between me with my tiny disability pension and my friends who earn three to four times as much. I am very time wealthy. I recently got fallout new vegas, and I had to check my bank account before buying it, but I have so much time to put into those never ending side quests.

[@MasterGeekMX]

I want to point this: I'm a technical minecrafter, wich means that my way of play is knowing almost every aspect of the game and it's inner mechanics for taking advantage of it. A lot of famous minecraft youtubers play like that like DocM77, DireWolf20, and ElRichMC from Spain. This special way of playing involves making very huge proyects, and it's kinda a job, but I and the technical players enjoy that lot of work. Maye because we in the meantime wach other videos while doing huge but monotnous task, hear music, etc. So it`s heavy and long like a work, but it's enjoyable at certain pont. Also, the gratifting feeling of watching that enormous proyect finished and feeling very complete. Hailings from Mexico.

[@Houdini111]

Just graduated high school in the spring. I've noticed this myself, actually. I have a probably a dozen games (and I don't have the money to get trapped in the Steam Sale trap) that I have yet to complete to the extent I find satisfactory. Then there are countless others I really do want to play, but haven't even gotten to start, for various reasons. And then there are probably a dozen book series that have come highly recommend, on top of the ones I haven't had time to finish. And then there's anime. I don't watch TV, so I don't have that problem, but anime more than make up for it. I'm in the middle of half a dozen series, a few of which are multiple seasons long. All the while, I somewhat enjoy myself, but there are certainly times when I feel like have to slog through it. It's most often when I'm getting back to something that got interrupted. I certainly agree that there just isn't enough time in a day/lifetime. And that isnt even considering life goals, that's just talking about the endless smorgasbord of entertainment thrown our way. And again, that isnt even talking about the diamonds in the rough, which you not only have to spend time with, you also have to spend time finding them. Through it all, I've found that I have had to build giant filters to keep myself reasonably under-control. First, if the thing doesn't seem like it can do anything for me within the first little bit of research, then I bypass it completely. However, I still need to find more filters, as is proven by the backlog I have. It doesn't help that I have to catch up to all the stuff that came before my time, which is a lot.

[@mustbeaweful2504]

Jesus Christ. I don't know how you could consume so much media and still be a writer. That is far more energy than I can produce.

[@Vannguyen-bu2fc]

Working in the creative field here. Before anything else, before creating, in school and work you learn to have references. So you had to research and fulfill those requirement to be legitimate. You have to see those classics, you have to stay at the front of whatever comes in the mainstream or the total opposite site. The enjoyment is here, you can discover and be inspired by wonderful and interesting pieces. But still, you aren't a witness you have to commit those pieces to you. You are always on the edge. It comes to it, that at one point you just seeing, playing, reading to make you time worth. I no longer feel, I got the right to chill, even when I'm not working, "play time " is precious, it really can be tiring. On the contrary, work becomes the main aim and pride of our lives. Sometimes the dumbing tasks are an escape and can become those recreational pauses.

[@lodevijk]

When you mentioned ads that stop when you close your eyes, I immediately thought of the phenomenal series, Black Mirror. They had this idea in one of the stories. The series revolves around the way technology changes our lives for better or worse.

[@refreshdaemon]

I think the moment that play became work for me was the moment I started creating things as a kid. Not just content to enact stories with my action figures, I started writing them down. And then I just started writing everything down. And then college hit and I started thinking about everything that I was playing with critically. And once I started doing that, and even worse, once I became a creative professional and a critic, I found that there is no division between play and work. All play is work. And all work, even the most mundane of household tasks, became sources for creative ideas. But specifically, I think play might still exist for me in the things that still remain ephemeral. The things that I do and enjoy that I don't analyze or store in my head somewhere. It might be singing in the shower or the car, dancing along to music (though the listening might be work) or other physical experiences which might include eating. The idea that the activity that I'm doing doesn't generate or contribute to something that I'm doing for work at all nor does it stick around in my brain to be used later might be what still constitutes as play for me.

[@mattjohnston2]

Same idea, but a slightly different direction is this: I have a woodshop, in which I really enjoy making things. Things for myself, because it's a hobby, not a job (I have a full time job that takes up a lot of time already). Recently, however, because of a Facebook post and the influx of response I got from it, I am now, with my wife, producing things in my woodshop for sale. Specifically one thing that we're making lots of. NOW spending time in my shop no longer feels like leisure time, but like work. And yet, I'm doing exactly the same thing that I've always done to relax.

[@1272nik]

I'm on holidays at the moment, but it feels like I'm working because - in the four weeks that I'm off - I've set myself the minimum requirements of reading 4 books I've wanted to read for a while, plus watching quite a few seasons of different shows I've missed! While it partly feels like work, I begin enjoying it the more that I do it; just like real work, to be honest!

[@samuelshoesmith]

I have never heard "leisure" pronounced that way before! Great video, as always. The lines blur more and more. Perhaps that's a good thing. Without such a distinct dichotomy, work feels less like work and more like play and plays seems less like play and more like work. Instead of an up and down and up and down, it is becoming a steady line on the graph. Wooah.

[@AlexBermann]

Fun becomes work if you let it become work. If you are contempt with not catching up with the latest games, episodes or movies but enjoy them when you are in the mood for them, you avoid the leisure stress. It never ceases to amaze me that we got to a situation in which people preorder games or put pressure on authors while the same people complain that they don't have time.

[@whitemageFFXI]

If you have three friends who are consuming three different things, and they all tell you that something different is amazing and you have to check it out, you now have three time-consuming things to check out whereas your three friends only had one thing each. It becomes overwhelming fast.

[@nathansmith7067]

I've experienced exactly what this video is talking about. My solution? Do what you enjoy and talk to others about it. I find that it becomes more of a cultural exchange of ideas, plots, and being invested in others and what they enjoy. And when I tire of consuming, I produce. Throwing in all the stories I've been exposed to in a blender and seeing what comes out is always fun, and telling people about that always makes them just as excited for my (or their) ideas as much as the newest show.

[@dzignhost]

"having eye balls, that sees advertisements" LOL

[@Frodo7241]

It's funny... I feel this way about IdeaChannel. I think to myself, "Look at all the videos I missed well I was away. Time to get to work!"

[@IXPrometheusXI]

You know, I was just playing bloodborne. I got stuck on the boss that's a woman what turns into a big wolf demon, so I started grinding to buff my mace. It was distressing at first, but then I stumbled on a secret npc that filled out some lore for a previous boss. Making my way back to that boss room, I ran into two hunter hunters that fought each other to the death in front of me. That netted me some sweet new armor and unlocked a weapon in the shop. So now I'm grinding for that weapon, and I decided to help some other players beat the last boss I played... About 6 times. Each group was it's own interesting story (immediate, sorry deaths aside). Using my newly gained insight, I summoned some helpers to defeat the wolf lady. 3 hours had passed, and all I did was grind. The new weapon wasn't even better than my current one. But despite making almost no progress, I had a great time. Sometimes, I think, is not about the difference between work and play, but rather, whether the things you're doing are interesting and important to you.

[@zacharymueller8966]

Spotify ads pause when you mute them. So the only effective way to "skip" them is to turn the volume way down, which i think ends up drawing more of your attention to them than if you just passively listened.

[@SSardonic]

Jane McGonigal wrote a book called Reality Is Broken that is all about equating work and play, and the lessons we can learn from comparing the two. The thesis is basically that play is simply gratifying work. When we feel we are getting something done, and especially when we feel like we are learning, we feel like we're playing. It's an excellent read and I highly recommend it, both for seasoned gamers and for those who have never touched a game of any kind (though I think I know which group this particular audience tends to fall more into ;) ) Also necessary to mention is the famous white washing scene from Tom Sawyer. In it, Tom is assigned the task of painting a fence white, when he had really hoped to be playing all day. As a neighborhood kid, Ben, passes by, however, Tom pretends to be having a great time painting the fence; drawing pictures with the paint, whistling, and generally being happy. Ben teases Tom, telling him about the fun he's going to have swimming while Tom is stuck working. Tom replies, "What do you call work?" and Ben says, "Why ain't *that* work?" to which Tom replies, "Well, maybe it is, and maybe it ain’t. All I know, is, it suits Tom Sawyer." Tom then actually convinces Ben to *pay him* for the opportunity to white wash the fence. Tom uses this trick on just about everyone in town, collecting all kinds of cool knick-knacks and not having to do any painting at all in the process. Twain even breaks the fourth wall at the end of the chapter to outright state the thesis: "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and that Play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do." As we see from Twain, and from our own intuition, a *huge* part of play is derived from the fact that you simply choose to do it. So, whenever a reason for doing anything - be it playing The Witcher, watching Orange is the New Black, etc.- is primarily motivated by some external force and not by your yourself choosing to do it, it becomes work. I think this is why it's so hard, and usually a bit awkward, to convince a friend to get into watching a series you're particularly fond of, or to play a game you really love. You *know* you love it, and you want to share that love with them, but by simply asking them to do it or to even apply any kind of pressure at all for your friends to watch/play something, you're kind of asking them to do some work. Work that you think they'll enjoy, and that you're happy to enjoy with them, but until they get to the point where they're playing / watching for themselves, they're just doing work, for you. Because they like you.

[@Scaredycat1963]

I'm 18 (not sure if I truly count for what you wanted for the "younger age group") and I want to be a professional film writer-director as well as a amateur novel writer, so this is how I see it: Our dilemma of "Art as work" is the ultimate first world problem. That is, as things become more and more convenient and the more automated our world becomes, we get to work less. Since we work less we're forced to make fake work. That is, we get more fake worlds with fake people with even more lengthy fake stories because there's less and less real work to do. Our fiction is getting better and play is work now because we're reliant on others to have our work and adventures done for us.

[@PanEtRosa]

+Matt Coates Well, for given values of "better". Much of what we think of as improvement in fiction is also artificial. Would "Game of Thrones" be half as attractive if GRRM had no experience in the heavily focus-grouped-and-executive-decision world of screenwriting?

[@Trigonography]

It's not just the made-to-consume recreation that can seem like work. Creative works done for fun can also take on the feeling of a chore, even if you really enjoy them for their own sake and no one's making you do it. Myself, I have a rule: when I realize that I'm engaging in some kind of recreation out of a sense of duty or responsibility, rather than because I want to do it, then I'm not having fun and it's time to do something else. This of course means that I'll go from watching TV shows to knitting to drawing to running to stacking rocks on the sidewalk to playing video games to reading books and back to TV shows (not necessarily in that order). In turn, my variable modes of recreation mean that I'll always be a little out of phase with the people around me who don't meander through the media, and I will always have half-finished projects waiting for me to get that particular creative itch again. Sometimes those projects or media get picked up again and finished, and sometimes they get abandoned. In the end, it's just for me anyway.

[@christmastree8854]

I might sound like an ad at the end of a sponsored video, but with all this talk of not having enough time in the day to consume all of these mediums, I want to bring up multi-tasking as a method of further pushing media consumption. For example, you mentioned the Martian. I haven't read that book, but I've listened to it, thanks to Audible, while playing video games and watching Netflix in the background. With the huge variety of ways to experience products that we have available to us, I feel like, as a producer, it's a race to get your content in as many places as possible to get the maximum possible profit. Multi-tasking provides a way for us, the consumers, to "lighten the load" of necessary things to experience, and gives producers more exposure.

[@GraydenKnoll]

I was just thinking about this the other day. Once you get so engrossed in something, when does it become work, and the fun is lost. Also fun is just a work that we really enjoy!

[@101jir]

This ties in well, I think, to EC's episodes on the "Skinner box" and "Exit Points"

[@primusavenged]

In all seriousness, I've experienced this in online RP communities. It's quite fun creating one's own characters within a story setting and interacting with other characters even when the main plot isn't directly involved. In fact, I personally decided to leave the community I was involved in because it would always start feeling like an obligation at some point, especially when other RPers were waiting for me to post.

[@jaycie5021]

While watching this I've been redesigning a creeper farm in minecraft. . . You may have a point.

[@LilyVenom]

This is so coincidental, Im currently going through the Mass Effect Trilogy. Im so glad you mentioned it. The whole game is about the choices we make when interacting with other characters and the way we play it, That way our Sheppard becomes completely ours and we actually feel responsible when our decisions go to hell or dont. We get so involved in this entertainment on a personal level that it actually manifests as our day to day life should we ( like I do ) binge it to completion because of how bloody good it is. Awesome video. Thanks for the insight.

[@sonnidesoto8140]

I can see how this can seem somewhat exhausting or problematic in terms of consuming media, since it can sometimes seem like work without tangible rewards. But, if you think about it in terms of gaining skills or building communities, I think the rewards become clearer. For instance, I cosplay at conventions, which is always a lot of fun and makes for--hopefully--amazing creations as well as amazing memories. But the work and the money and the time and the investment that goes into each costume can seem daunting during the process. There's inevitably some point in the creating process where you have to throw your hands up and rage quit on it. For at least a little bit. Then you keep going. Because, if you cosplay, you love to do it. Chances are good you have friends who love to do it. You're always learning new skills and techniques with each costume, giving you opportunities for share and collaborate with those friends. And, once it's done, you have this amazing thing at the end of it--not just the article of clothing or prop, but also the experience and accomplishment of having created it and the chance to then share it with others who will also enjoy it. It's playful work. I think that consuming media can be another form of that. If you watch shows with friends or have a community of fans you belong to, you can trade ideas and theories and fanfiction and fanlove. If you play games, you gain skills and unlock achievements, as well as have the opportunity to build communities. I think, so long as the work retains its sense of play more often than not--so long as you can still find the fun in it somewhere, it's okay that sometimes it *feels* like work. Sometimes, it's that challenge--that pushing past the hump--that feels the most satisfying in the end.

[@WesleyWhiteside]

This is so true. Play has become work for so many people now. It's not even fun. It's bad enough when you mention you haven't seen ___ movie and your friend goes "You haven't seen ______?????!!!?!??!" It's every movie. Literally every movie anyone mentions and I haven't seen, that's the response. But it's even worse for games. Watching all the E3 press conferences, I couldn't help but feel how "behind" I was in the game department. Almost all major reveals are sequels to games I never played. Even those "we're bringing it back after 10 years" reveals. I never even played one Square Enix game but I really want to, especially when I see how others react. But the major push for the media overload is no longer your friends telling you that you "should be watching/playing/reading." It's the limited time window technology has imposed on us. Now we only have a short amount of time to play (insert any mobile game here) before this special item goes away forever (or we can pay our entire pay check to catch up). It's even worse when you consider full retail games like Splatoon that only offer special events and modes through limited online windows. I paid $60 for this game, why should I be limited to what I can play and when? And of course Netflix whose contracts force you to binge watch every movie and TV show before they expire. Almost all on demand content has an expiration date. We have the technology to future proof being behind, but they use it against us to make sure we never stop consuming. It's kinda sick.

[@dianarojo-jewell6091]

I spend so much time catching up on things like books and TV, yet it doesn't feel like work to me. Mostly because I do it in the summer or when I *finally* finish my homework to cure boredom and to enter new and exciting adventures, continue with them, or simply have the sensation of meeting new people (granted, they are fictional.. but then they lead me to be able to converse easier with the group of people that in a way have been through the same things I have, the same emotional roller-coasters and mind blowing discoveries that fandoms provide, while having totally different lives). I don't often play complex or effort- demanding video games, so my version of "play" is simply letting my eyes rest upon seasons of TV and books that start to become movies in their own way in my mind. I do spend a lot of time "fan girling" to entertain myself because it is fun, yet not laboring. So to me, my fun oftentimes is not work to catch up (although there was that time when the new Percy Jackson book came out, I was way behind on Homestuck, and I was trying to watch like two animes at once.. but that is way behind me now).

[@bbloomfield6497]

Almost every day I get caught in a chromecast KZbin playlist around 45 videos long.. I feel compelled to volunteer myself to consume these discussions about art, games, design, science, film, current events or I might miss them completely. Why the KZbin mobile app does not allow the subscriptions feed to be infinite I'll never know and yet also be thankful for. It does scare me somewhat.. If the time required to be able to enjoy all the films, series', games, books, music, live performances.. Heck even great food/venues were to be added up that it would out stretch the realms of what you could ever do with the time you have.