My media diet consists mainly of YouTube videos and Netflix shows and movies, with the occasional movie rental or purchase through a service like VUDU. I tend to do most of my viewing on my phone since it provides me with the flexibility to watch anywhere I want, whereas my laptop or the television downstairs don’t afford me the same luxury of consuming media in bed or at the dining room table during lunch. I do still prefer to use my laptop or the television downstairs for movies or longer binges of television shows.

The contents of my media diet is somewhat unchallenging and falls into two fairly distinct categories for me. I mainly watch either light-hearted comedic content or construction based/educational videos. Some examples of the kinds of light-hearted content I consume includes Community, Adventure Time, and most of my news which I get from sources like the Daily Show, The Late Show, or Last Week Tonight. I find that as important as it is to stay vigilant to the atrocities and misfortunes befalling our world, it is also important to have an uncomplicated escape from reality. Having something simple to watch or repackaging harsh news in easy-to-digest terms helps keep each day from becoming an existential battle rooted in moral confusion. For the other half of my media diet I like to watch lots of science videos and maker videos on YouTube. Some of my favorites include Kurzegesagt, Adam Savage’s Tested, Sam O’ Nella Academy (more comedy than fact), Hacksmith, Planet Earth, and Vsauce. Liking content which isn’t challenging does not mean that I don’t like to think and learn. I find filling the quieter moments of my day with the harshness of reality to be unpleasant but filling the still parts of my life with interesting facts and projects is more fulfilling. I like to learn about things that interest me, and by learning more about the world around me I feel safer and more comfortable going through each day. To that end, I highly recommend the Kurzegesagt videos on corona virus and the human immune system for anyone worried about the current state of the world. Neither video will make the problem less significant in our world, but there is something comforting about understanding a threat from an objective point of view and disincentivizing the impulse to panic.

In regard to the specifics of my media consumption, I have found a mass incline in my screen time since the quarantine. I have watched almost the entirety of Community on Netflix and all of Avatar the last Airbender through other online resources. I think the combined boredom of being stuck inside and the nagging unease surrounding the quarantine, virus, and the implications of both have left me craving uncomplicated and comforting content. It may have developed into more of a crutch since the lockdown, but with the limited number of things to do while stuck inside it is hard to tell how much of my viewing is an escape and how much is a tactic to kill time.