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SCREEN JUNKIES: How endless TV and streaming options are causing audiences anxiety

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In our gazillion channel universe, a blessing has become a curse. The mere thought of picking one TV show to add to our already overwhelmed queue provokes anxiety.

Content overload is your constant TV companion: hounding you, guilting you out, reminding you of what you’re missing even while catching up on what you’ve missed. Weighed down by should’ve, could’ve and would’ve, it seems there is no more viewing pleasure. TV has become a job. We’re prisoners in a room without a view, swamped by broadcast television, cable and streaming; paralyzed by the mere thought of selecting and unfulfilled by every selection. It’s just plain bad for our well-being and sabotages our productivity

Barry Schwartz, a professor and author of The Paradox of Choice, says that the essentially infinite number of TV possibilities ends up reducing the satisfaction people get out of whatever they are watching.

“They think about whether there is a better option out there somewhere and this detracts from the enjoyment they get out of what they are watching.”

Sure, we can always tape one show while watching another, but when will we find the time to watch the tape? “Digitized pop music has the same effect. We can walk around with thousands of songs on a device no bigger than a business card. With every tune that comes up, we think about all those other tunes we’re not listening to.”

Avid TV viewer Jess Carver admits that she just can’t select, kick back and relax. “There’s too much TV so I watch a bit of everything and enjoy nothing!”

Some shows she tries to watch in real time — like Better Call Saul, The Walking Dead and America’s Got Talent — but she is plagued by commitaphobia, endless PVR-ing and trying to dodge Twitter spoilers. She can’t get enough of Bloodline, Twin Peaks and the nerve-racking Orange is the New Black. And she heard at the salon one day that cable drama Claws is addictive and hilarious.

So much content, so little time. And seeking the perfect choice is a recipe for misery. No different than the online dating world — “if you’re not immediately struck by lightning, then you’re immediately looking for something else instead of being satisfied ... always thinking about other choices you could be making and what you’re missing,” says Lori Gottlieb, therapist and author of Marry Him: The Case for Settling for Mr. Good Enough.

Our expectations have become unrealistically inflated, with the bar set way too high, says Gottlieb, who writes a weekly column What Your Therapist Really Thinks for thecut.com. “We enjoy everything less because we’re constantly thinking we could do better.”

Content overload is Damian Holbrook’s life. For the esteemed TV Guide Magazine columnist, it’s pretty much impossible to keep up. “It’s an insane time for TV journalists ... It really is like a group date on The Bachelorette: At any given time, there are 25 potential suitors vying for our attention!”

Holbrook admits to getting mega stressed: “As someone who covers Gotham and Supergirl, both shows air against each other, so one has to be DVR’d and watched after I watch the other live, while also staying on top of Dancing with the Stars and whatever Real Housewives is running that night, because both of them could become watercooler-y posts for our website the next morning.”

So if he’s not up to adding four to six hours of viewing after a day of work, he may stream one or more of the shows in the morning. “Thank god for the technology that is making it at least nominally easier to plow through this deluge,” says Holbrook.

Despite the anxiety it brings, he loves the overwhelming load of programming. “Never before have there been so many choices, so many great examples of creativity and so many escapes from the weirdness of the real world. But I do miss reading. That’s still a thing, right?”

TV was a lot simpler way back when! “Growing up, I had three major networks to choose from, the news was on at 6:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. and kids got up early Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. Now, the choices are endless, and while that seems like that shouldn’t give anyone anxiety, it totally does because more options means more decision-making,” sighs 24 Hours’ resident TV critic Denette Wilford, who currently has 46 shows on her PVR.

Advance screeners allow her to manage viewing overload, plus Wilford’s learned to weed out the excess. And columns like her TV Cheat Sheet were created to help viewers separate greatness from garbage. “Any shows I have more than a handful of, it means I don’t care about them enough to watch. And I no longer feel guilty; I’m fine killing off a show if it means more time for what I really care about. Priorities.”

While Peak TV can be an immense dilemma for viewers, the overcrowded content universe is far from a nightmare for critics, adds John De Simio, executive VP of the Broadcast Film Critics Association. “It’s actually a glorious opportunity to review the offerings from this new Golden Age of television ... Luckily, the increase in the number of programs is accompanied by a corresponding increase in program quality.”

Feeling defeated when you hold that remote? Get a grip!

Barry Schwartz says that to deal with the ever-growing choice overload, we have to do some work on ourselves. “Manage regret and second-guessing. Appreciate that life is long and chances to see or do what you passed up this time will present themselves.”

Focus on what you did choose rather than on what you didn’t, says Schwartz, adding that this is easy advice to give, not so easy to follow. “As for anxiety, perhaps when the stakes are higher than what show to watch, but being anxious about TV seems a little implausible.”

Dr. Pamela Rutledge, director at the Media Psychology Research Center, advises that for anyone who is feeling overwhelmed by choice to step back and make judgments about which shows matter more, seem more interesting and make a short list the way people are advised to break down big, complex projects into a series of small tasks.

“Mindfulness alleviates anxiety. Part of being mindful is to focus in on what’s important to clarify decisions. I see a bigger problem coming in lack of content, rather than too much,” adds Rutledge. “No one, after all, watches everything on every channel. But you can catch up on a season in a few nights. Then you have to find another program worth watching.”

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