Streaming Fatigue

Some time ago I reached the point of streaming fatigue. Having access to all the movies, music, or entertainment I could ever want became overwhelming. When I was making a decision as to what to watch or listen to, I was engulfed in an analysis paralysis. The opportunity costs I had to weigh out in my head were infinite, because my selection was infinite. I noticed this to be a repeating pattern.

What music to listen to? Rock, pop, jazz, classical, indie? Once i determined the general genre, it was then the decision between all the sub-genres. Once I determined the sub-genre, it was then the decision between listening to a band or a playlist. If playlist, which one? If band, which album?

Going through this decision tree continually lead to a decision fatigue, which, as I have introduced earlier, I began to call "streaming fatigue." The type of frustration of course goes well beyond streaming services, but streaming platforms were the places where I experienced it the most frequently. I would sit around for up to 30 minutes looking for what to play or watch, normally having a selection picked out but going through the entire library to make sure I wasn't leaving anything out and also because I wasn't entirely satisfied with my options, thinking there may be a better one out there.

I'm convinced this is not a good way of living and spills over into other areas of life. In all other areas you begin to feel like you are obligated to have every option before you. In other ways, you lose the ability to make a good decision with limited options, because that is not your normal mode of operation.

Consider areas in your life that you feel overwhelmed by options. Think of how refreshing it is to go to a restaurant like In-N-Out. Burgers, fries, drink shake. That's it. You now have a small decision tree within that very limited menu that is incredibly easier to navigate and work through. It feels like most of the decision making has been made for you and it is a relief to your soul.

We don't want to waste our time listening to music so we want it to be an absolutely perfect selection. We only have 2 hours to watch something on TV so we have to make sure those 2 hours are perfectly well-spent watching the perfectly satisfying movie or show. An unlimited selection theoretically offers that, but it never truly satisfies us. We realize every time that we could have watched or listened to just about anything and be fine.

But there is the other problem that arises that we start to become less satisfied with the things we have and the things we experience. They start to be less enjoyable, less personable, and less memorable. We seem less and less satisfied with the decisions we make when selecting from the infinite collection.

Unlimited options became very tiresome. So what do you do?

Well, there is a secret the elites don't want you to know: you can just do stuff.

If you are like me and face constant and continual streaming fatigue. Ditch it. Leave it behind. It won't miss you and you won't miss it. There are alternatives out there, but you have to do the work to go find them. For us, we are going more and more analog, but that will come in a later blog...