My Netflix account hates me.
There are only so many emails, push notifications and alerts the streaming platform can send me (cough, and that I can ignore, cough) about watching the latest, most anticipated, or record-breaking series and movies before I potentially face some serious, unknown ramifications like a character in an episode of Black Mirror, right?
My mental dramatizations about being forced to stay awake for hours to consume culturally relevant content aside, I have no real desire to give anything new a chance right now—and I’m alright with that.
I love reruns and I’m not alone. I’ve never felt as psychologically exhausted in my life as I have during this global pandemic and, with what feels like a million other things to think about, I don’t have the mental bandwidth to invest in new storylines and characters. It may sound extreme but I’d rather avoid unnecessary stress and tragedy, even in fictional worlds.
Not when I find so much joy in watching Lauren Speed radiate #BlackGirlMagic on screen and find genuine happiness on Love is Blind. Or when my boyfriend-in-my-mind Jordan Calloway effortlessly emanates “good guy energy” in the incredibly sweet film Always a Bridesmaid. And not much can beat falling into a marathon of the wonderfully produced Hip-Hop Evolution series that I first discovered at my old barbershop in Harlem.
Nowadays, I just prefer the comfort brought on by knowing the plot twists and turns that lay before me instead of the unknown and unpredictable. I like to think of it as self-care in the form of content moderation.
I know I’ll eventually get back to a place where my watch list isn’t stuck in early 2020 (and even prior to that, who am I kidding?), but in the meantime, I’ll keep rewatching what I already enjoy and trying my best to avoid spoilers.
Bridgerton can wait.