Media To Restore

A particular feeling needs particular media.

Into The Fridge, is a regular feature of Katie Stone’s newsletter, Plant Based. My favourite question/prompt in this interview series is the following:

Picture this: you wake up one morning and feel like shit. What’s your next move:

I appreciate this springboard for many a reason, mainly because navigating daily life can be tricky and I appreciate applied methods from others that are achievable and don’t involve buying anything. When I wake up and feel like this, it is my media habits that come under scrutiny.

How we use the media and how it uses us is everything The Middle Part is based on. Like in most situations, when things are going along just ‘fine’ and I’m not really thinking, then my media habits are pretty mindless too, I play playlists I normally play, watch TV at pretty much the same time each night, rotating through whatever series I’m watching and read a book that I mightn’t have read before but absolutely within the same vein of something I would normally read.

Every so often however, I become acutely aware that I’m feeling a certain kind of way and need certain media to couch that. Whilst completely valid, this use of media is not to wallow in the feelings nor repair as both of these things require a different set of media or approach in order to put yourself back together. Media to restore, however, provides comfort alongside subtle realignments so I can get back to myself or somehow grasp things that are floating around in my brain.

There needs to something familiar but just the right amount of edge so that the media leads to a nudge of forward momentum as opposed to the melancholy of intense boost as mentioned above. This may mean that it’s a familiar show that evokes certain feelings of a time in one’s life or that it’s recognisable but new in one way or another.

There’s a lot of research around comfort shows. The main reason they work is because our brain is familiar with the storylines and character so we aren’t stressed about what is going to happen. Chances are many of us have a phone in one hand so watching something we’ve seen before also allows less concentration.

These core media seem to be the most closely aligned with how I see myself, or connect with myself most. Sometimes this media is used in short, sharp succession like a targeted dose; a chapter here, an episode there and a run through of a favourite album on the drive to work. In other situations the prescription may be of a stronger and longer course and include YouTube videos by my favourite YouTubers or rewatching favourite videos of theirs.

For me personally, Instagram is not useful in times like these but deep down we all know how we feel about social media so I won’t go on about it here.

The device feels important. Perhaps I am that millennial meme after all; the TV feels necessary or even the laptop if YouTube is playing. CDs are needed. It’s probably all to stay away from my phone. Another unhelpful media item when trying to restore.

So, here are my favourite media to restore:

To Watch - CSI. Las Vegas only. If it’s not CSI it’s a sitcom like New Girl or a Stacey Dooley or Louis Theroux documentary.

To Listen To - Arctic Monkeys because Alex Turner’s voice is like a balm.

To Read - Always a reread. An Agatha Christie murder mystery or something similar. A non-fiction reread like Marie Kondo’s Joy at Work is also good as is a favourite issue of The Gentlewoman magazine.

These media are guaranteed to clear the dust and comfort the niggling feelings of whatever may be lingering.

What are yours?

Perhaps we can talk about media to wallow and media to repair another time.