Choosing How to Entertain Yourself

There aren’t many things as synonymous with the modern teen or young adult as the way we entertain ourselves. From binging series on streaming services to playing games for hours on end, these are all things that our older friends and family look at in wonder just how we do it. However, we know how we do it but we might just not always be able to do what we want.

That last sentence was a weird one, that sentence is what I use to describe the feeling we get whenever we want to play a game, watch a series or chill with a movie, but we aren’t sure which one. The thing that we feel is that we really don’t know which one to choose or which genre we are even looking to play in.

However, as a mid-level young adult I’ve cornered how to decide what to play and what to watch without agonising about it for an hour. Just a reminder, the root cause of this indecision can also come from procrastinating so much that you actually become depressed.

First, you should probe your mind to find out what you feel like doing. If just want to shut down and chill then the obvious thing is to watch a series, if you want mild engagement then it’s straight to a movie and if you want a good long few hours of fun then it should be a game.

Don’t even decide on a genre right now, just get into what you actually would like to do for the next 30 minutes to an hour. I’ve found that the position you are in financially greatly affects the way you choose as well. If you’re still a student you will more likely play a game for several hours whereas the working young adult will be tackling a series during the week.

Kids at school are all more likely to just go and play games for days while watching movies and shouting angrily on Twitch. The funniest people, and the most indecisive, are unemployed people that have too much time. I found myself playing games for longer during these periods as a form of escapism and almost refusing to watch anything simply because successful people on TV bothered me.

Movies are watched as a group when you’re single and when you want to Netflix and chill with your significant other. Movies are the only ones that I find to be universally liked, whereas games and series can be hit or miss depending where you are in your young adult life.

When I am tired but still want to play a game I find myself not playing something new and confusing. Instead I just go and play something I already know games that are easy to start up and will give me the short dopamine boost I need. For me these are games like Counter Strike, Forza Horizon or sometimes even the Witcher series.

This same thing applies to series, Netflix and other streaming services are constantly spending millions to expand the range of stuff that you can watch but they still keep the classically good series listed. This is because at the end of a stressful day it’s a lot more fun watching Ross shout something about being on a break. It cannot be so relaxing watching which of your favourite character dies in this weeks’ episode of Game of Thrones.

The same however doesn’t apply to movies, where watching the same thing for the fifth or sixth time can be mind numbingly boring. Now, to preface I don’t mean traditional movies like Love Actually or the best Christmas movie Die Hard. I mean if you want to do nothing putting on Iron Man 3 for the seventh time in two months will just frustrate you.

Ironically, with movies it’s always better to experiment with something new. If you like it then you can just chill if you don’t then you can just browse the web while there is at least something playing for noise in the house.

This is the most important thing to learn, when you work the whole week, from nine to five you might actually find yourself bored if you just sit in front of the TV the whole weekend. Similarly if you are a student you need to build a wall and feel when it’s better for you to study or to play a game for several hours without end.

I recommend testing the waters and finding balances between all of them. Get your friends to play games with you if you work the whole week and would like to both hang out with them and to play your chosen game. Similarly, holding movie nights at your home is no longer limited to just teenage activities, if you have the space Friday and Saturday night’s become great opportunities for you to easily unwind.

Being bored with what you have is normal; seriously it’s what drives us to become better. So instead of going into depression because you’re spoiled for choice, just start with what you know, be it games, movies or series. Then go to what looks interesting, and then maybe try something that you’ve never tried before.

The trick to getting over that funk I know you have if you’re reading this far down is to just start. As young adults some of our procrastination habits come from having too much choice. Breaking it all down to simpler things will allow you to get out of the funk. The most important thing I am going to say here though is that no matter how down you are or how unemployed you are, please take a shower every day.