I did this a month ago, which lined up nicely with the New Year, but it wasn’t my “resolution” to ditch all my streamers (you KNOW how I feel about resolutions). I actually was just trying to budget and sort of panic-moved into finding the easiest things to cut, which happened to be “every mode of watching TV.”

But so far, I haven’t missed it. Granted, I’ve been lucky enough to be working throughout January, seeing friends, and even traveling a bit for comedy (my dream). Which then brings me to what one of my resolutions for this year was:

community over convenience

My best friend told me about this idea last year, and it really stuck with me. I also have been reading a bit more about it from others and as the child of Asian immigrants who prioritize work and financial success, it REALLY is a different way to think for me.

But I’ve already seen the ways it’s benefited me. For instance, the other day my friend’s feet were hurt and she couldn’t do the walk to a bakery we wanted to go to and wanted to Uber. I offered to walk myself (as I did want to do a walk that day, and also wanted to save money on an Uber) and bring her something back, and then stopped myself. Why was I sacrificing the bonding time of going somewhere with my friend for the convenience of not spending a few dollars? We ended up Ubering and having a great conversation at the bakery, and also the bakery ended up taking half an hour to get my order and then said they didn’t actually have it. So we didn’t have any coffee, but we DID chat a lot about stuff going on in our lives. And I ended up doing my walk later. Everyone got what they wanted (except me and the corn latte I ordered, which sucks because I really wanted to try it but whatever).

What does this have to do with streamers? Well, streamers are a really easy way for me to stay inside, instead of going to a random screening at an indie theater, hitting a friend up for a walk, or maybe even taking a random art class. They’re a constant hum in the background of online window shopping. The choice paralysis of how many things I could be watching — “hmm maybe there’s something better to watch that’s leaving Netflix soon” — is sometimes stymying.

The phrase from the blog I linked that sticks out to me is the one on the meme of the wizard (please don’t correct me if this wizard is important or something): “capitalism as a system relies on us needing convenience.” It relies on me having my phone out to check my email at all hours, it relies on me being so tired I can’t cook myself food (an activity I love), it relies on me hustling for the next gig so much that I can’t see my friends.

It is not a cycle that I can immediately break, and can probably never sever myself from given how much it infiltrates all our lives, but at the same time, now that I know what it’s true aims are, I’m not going to let it rule me or my sense of community.

Thoughts? Do you struggle with this too?

xo,

Rekha