So there’s this thing I do when I watch TV where I find myself picking up my laptop, without even thinking about it, and doing research. It’s a habit I developed during my thesis, I think. I didn’t have time to do anything, so when I did take a break I’d find myself compulsively using that moment to also check my email or deal with my admin chores.
And it’s fine. It is. These days I usually knock over the admin stuff fairly quickly and then end up doing random research prompted by… well whatever’s in my head at the time. Or I start writing. Sometimes it takes me days to watch something because I’ll pause if I realise I’ve completely stopped paying attention to what’s on the screen.
It’s a great way to get through B-grade films and TV shows. It’s a terrible way to watch anything of actual quality. When I know I’m going to watch something good I sometimes deliberately put the laptop out of reach and sit on my hands. It doesn’t always work, but I like to at least pretend I’m trying.
The other end of the spectrum, the one I’m always waiting for, however, is where it goes the other way. Where I start to watch something with half my attention and my hands on the keyboard and I look up two hours later to realise I’m hugging the closed laptop to my chest, eyes glued to the screen.
That’s a good day. Something really worth watching.
Kandace Mavrick
Paul McLaughlan
wolflullaby
13/05/2012
What was the last thing you watched that enraptured you in that way?
Kandace Mavrick
13/05/2012
The movie Brick. I put it on as a random something to watch for a bit while I had lunch and did some admin stuff and ended up watching the whole thing. Later the same evening I told Rick about my reaction to the beginning of it and he said, ‘So show me the first fifteen minutes’ and we ended up watching the whole movie again. It’s just… interesting.
I also started watching Suits the other day, and while it’s not distracting in quite the same way I find I get far less done when I’m watching it compared to most other things 🙂