For two weeks following my hernia surgery I was on very restricted activity (for me). That plus constant pain in my abdomen limited what I could do.
Without my usual exercise regime to keep me busy, I wrote, I read, I drummed and I watched Netflix. Within a few days, I was sick of Netflix and I cancelled it. But since you paying advance I still had 3 weeks of Netflix left.
With nothing of interest to me, I tried to binge watch the TV series, “Designated Survivor”. It stars Keifer Sutherland as a low ranking member of the Presidential Cabinet who was offsite during the State of Union. A bomb blows up the Capital Building during the State of the Union, killing everyone in attendance – thus making Keifer the President. The entire Federal Government was blown to bits and he has to unite and rebuild the country.
I like Keifer Sutherland and it seemed like a promising plot.
But it was meh.
It turned out to have very formulaic script writing, trite characterizations, memes and subplots.
Nonetheless I binge watched 2 seasons of it over two weeks.
I watched it each evening during dinner and afterward. Here’s what I noticed happenned to me.
- I overate dinner every night. While watching I just kept eating and eating, long after I was full.
- I drank too much during and after dinner – soda, tea and water – thus waking me several times each night to pee.
- The next day , I frequently had a stiff neck because I watched on my iPad and didn’t pay attention to the awkward postures I sat in for hours.
- My dreams were full of TV show related problems like violence, terrorism and politics.
- During the day, I thought about the show. By the time dinner came around, I was looking forward to watching more.
It was as if I was out of control. And I didn’t even like the show.
When my wife was alive, we binge watched lots of good TV – Breaking Bad, Sons of Anarchy, Battlestar Gallactica, The Wire, Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos and Narcos plus too many movies to list.
I liked watching shows with her. We’d laugh. We’d get surprised, scared or sad. We’d talk about the characters. It was a fun way for us to unwind during and after dinner.
Looking back, I realize that my experience binge watching then was nearly identical to my experience last week. I would overeat – frequently snacking after dinner on an entire jar of peanuts or an entire bag of chips.
I’d have nightmares. The stories would embed themselves in my mind and fill it with thoughts of violence, crime and tragedy.
And so, with a few days left on my subscription, I deleted Netflix from my iPad.
I’ll save it for my next surgery. (which will hopefully be never).