Okay, let me start this off by telling you that no, I didn’t quit TV cold turkey this year. As a college student, it’s second nature to decompress after a long day of class and rehearsal by throwing on an episode of Once Upon a Time or Grey’s Anatomy. I love TV; however, TV isn’t something that I’ll watch for no reason. I have a few shows (okay, probably more than a few) that I love to keep up with and I have definitely watched many-a-show via Netflix.
That being said, TV also bores me. Since coming to college, I’ve probably watched at least 10 different shows in their entirety due to the convenience of Netflix. As much as I love the easy, breezy entertainment that comes from a 42-minute episode, looking back on how much time I’ve spent in my bed watching TV makes me feel like a slug. Honestly, at points in time I’ve felt as if I’m frying my brain completely due to the lack of imaginative stimulation that television programs provide. Everything in a TV show is laid out for you—the characters, the setting, even the background music. Books, on the other hand, lend you a little more flexibility creatively.
After spending approximately two years being sluggish—I decided that junior year was going to be my year to read some books. (Again, I’m going to reiterate that I still do keep up with the happenings at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital and how my girl Jane is doing on Jane The Virgin.) However, my shows do not consume all of my time now. Books, more or less, do.
This semester alone, I’ve read eight personal reading books as a result of my little experiment. From romances, to sci-fi, to fantasy, to dystopian, I’ve been around the universe and back with all of the variance in my reading selections and I feel great! So as a recap, let me share just a few of the things that have resulted from my 2016 reading-instead-of-Netflix-binge:
I don’t feel bored.
I’m not saying that swapping books for Criminal Minds is for everyone, but it has honestly helped me to combat college boredom. On weekends when my friends all end up going home and I’m left to fend for myself on the entertainment front for a couple of days, I don’t worry about being lonely and having nothing to do. By picking up a book or two (yes, I’ve actually read two PRBs in a weekend this semester!), I’m completely distracted from the outside world and from the fact that I have no friends for a whole weekend.
Books are great for travel (easy portable entertainment!)
Never again will I have to worry about not having a Wi-Fi connection on an airplane or while riding in the car. Plus, it’s so easy to throw your latest read in your backpack and pick it up during any breaks in your day!
I feel smarter.
Okay, not to be one of those people, because pretention isn’t cute, but reading instead of watching TV gave me this odd intellectual satisfaction. I felt more accomplished reading a few chapters rather than watching a few episodes.
Like I said earlier, books give you more creative freedom.
I’m not a huge fan of when people tell me what to do, or tell me what to think. Therefore, TV and movies are not always my best friends (especially when it’s a book to TV/movie adaption and they RUIN it, but that’s a whole different conversation). Anyway, books give you the chance to interpret all of the descriptions and details as you please! Depending on how dedicated you are to this independence, some people even make their own bookish playlists and fan art. (As for Me Before You, I honestly have respect for the movie and the movie soundtrack–however, I still appreciate my own imagination’s interpretation better.)
I FEEL LESS LIKE A SLUG! WOOHOO!
I may not be an athletic human or a consistently clean-eater, but even though physically I’m not in the best shape, mentally I am THERE. Obviously, reading books hasn’t made me some mega-genius or intellectual scholar (but perhaps you can have scholarship in Young Adult Lit?) but I feel way more engaged in my daily endeavors than when I was blankly staring at a screen for a few hours a day. Reading new stories day after day has excited me and made me much happier than The Bachelor ever has.
I feel that my choice to stop mindlessly watching TV and do something more brain stimulating has really improved my quality of life. Life as a college student is already pretty great, but I feel better about myself after this bookish experiment. Being the bookworm I am, I’d recommend this entertainment swap to everyone—so if you decide to give it a go, let me know how it works out for you. Plus, I’m always opening to having someone new to fangirl over fictional worlds with. Happy reading!