So, I found myself talking about “the sadness netflix” the other day. It’s not like, one specific show, you know? It’s more a whole vibe, a feeling I get, and something I actually went through, trying to figure it out.
It all started a while back. I was feeling pretty low, just one of those slumps. So, what do you do? You fire up Netflix, right? That’s what I did. My big plan was to just find something, anything, to get my mind off things. Simple.
The Big Scroll
So there I was, on the couch, remote in hand. And I just started scrolling. And scrolling. And then, I scrolled some more. You know the drill. Thumb getting sore. Eyes glazing over. They throw all these pictures at you, all these titles. Stuff I’d seen, stuff I’d skipped a hundred times, stuff that just looked… blah.
I remember thinking, “Okay, I gotta be more strategic here.” So I tried to use their categories. “Hidden Gems.” Ha! Hidden for a reason, maybe. “Critically Acclaimed.” Yeah, critically acclaimed stuff that makes you want to stare at a blank wall for an hour.
My “practice” for that evening, and many evenings before, became this endless search. I’d click on a trailer, watch about ten seconds, then “nope.” Back to the scroll. It’s like they design it to keep you hooked on the searching, not the watching.
That Sinking Feeling
And that’s where “the sadness netflix” thing really hit me. It wasn’t making me feel better. If anything, it was making me feel a bit worse. Like, all this choice, and nothing felt right. It just amplified that empty feeling, you know?
I remembered when I first got Netflix years ago. It was exciting! New stuff, cool shows you couldn’t see anywhere else. Now? It feels like a chore sometimes. You’re paying for it, so you feel like you have to use it, but then you spend an age just trying to pick something.
I even tried to look up lists online, “best shows to watch when you’re feeling blah.” Followed some recommendations. Watched a couple of episodes of something. It was… okay. Just okay. Didn’t stick. The next day, I was back to the scroll.
What I Figured Out
My whole “practice” with it showed me something. That platform, when you’re already feeling a bit down, it can be a trap. It’s not really about finding joy. It’s just… there. A time filler. Something to numb your brain a bit, maybe.
I started noticing the patterns. The recommendations didn’t feel very personal. It felt like they were just pushing whatever was new or what they wanted me to watch, not what I actually might like when I’m in that mood.
Eventually, I just stopped trying so hard with it on those kinds of days. I realized that endlessly searching for that perfect distraction on a screen was just making “the sadness” part more prominent. I’d put on some music instead, or just sit with my thoughts. Sometimes I’d even go for a walk, if you can believe it.
So yeah, “the sadness netflix.” For me, it’s not a genre. It’s that whole loop of searching, hoping, and then just feeling…meh. And then doing it all over again. I kind of broke out of that cycle, mostly. Still use it, but not when I’m looking for it to solve my mood, if that makes sense.