Walking back from my daily picking up litter in Washington Square Park, where the drug dealers increasingly recognize me as someone to talk to—one of them told me he saw me on Facebook, he figures someone took a picture of a guy picking up litter—I asked myself what I would rather do than pick up litter in my neighborhood.
I’d rather there weren’t litter to pick up, but given that it’s there, I’d rather act than passively watch the problem grow. Somehow Game of Thrones got into my head. I’ve never watched the show and barely heard anything about it. Only a friend showed me a scene of a woman forced to walk naked through a crowd of everyone saying “shame!” at her. I don’t know why.
Anyway, I thought to myself,
I would always prefer picking up other people’s litter from a park in today’s polluted world than watch Game of Thrones.
I’m speaking in ignorance of Game of Thrones so maybe I’d speak differently after watching it, but I’m using it as a stand-in for many other current popular activities that I have done. Everything seems passive these days. I’d rather cook than order takeout or eat at a restaurant. Etc.
I know it makes me weird by mainstream standards. I didn’t intend to experience this transformation. I grew up watching more TV than anyone I knew of.
Wow, I can relate. I have many conversations with people now where the thread goes to shows being watched. I don’t know many people who talk about creative hobbies but everyone I know loves pushing the shows they watch into conversations.
I was twice recently in groups of people (of *very* different backgrounds) where a question going around the table was what shows each person had watched recently. I felt like the weird one because I didn’t have much of an answer when the group turned to me. I find it more fulfilling to organise my sock drawer than watch most shows (that’s what I did last night).
And I feel I have to word my response very carefully in these situations to not be seen as pompous. I haven’t figured out a good response, really.
It’s clearly a pretty small issue, but I feel it has lead to fewer personal connections as it’s something everyone else is highly interested in and I’m not. Or at least adds distance to the rest of the group.
(like you, I watched a lot of media when I was young too, much more than people I know. I sometimes wonder if it’s because of this. Perhaps I’ve seen everything before, so I’m more sick of the cliche’s than other people? I can still sometimes enjoy media if it shows me a new part of the world, or society, that I’ve never seen before.)
Glad to find someone with a shared experience. People joke about non-TV watchers with:
Q: How do you know someone doesn’t own a TV?
A: They tell you.
The joke works with iPhones too, but unlike iPhones, TV watchers stick TV in your face every day, as you described, and not watching TV saves hundreds, even thousands of dollars a year.
You might like my post today if you like alternative practices that we’d all benefit from becoming mainstream: https://joshuaspodek.com/day-1300-picking-up-at-least-one-piece-of-litter-daily.
bravo joshua that really puts things into perspective. any time away from a screen is spent well if following your lead
Thank you.
It depends on the specific activities. I’m at a screen now, but actively communicating. I make sure to get outside every day. I value cleaning my neighborhood.