The next episodeHabits

unbry

The next episode

A short book about watching far more television than you planned because the next one starts by itself

28 chapters11,578 wordsAbout 53 minFirst edition

What's inside

·Before you startThis is a short book and you can read it in two or three sittings. It's about one habit. You sit down at half past nine to watch one episode. At quarter…2 min
1Just one moreIt's half past nine. The kitchen's done, the children are down, and you've got an hour before bed. You put on the drama, the one with the body in the…2 min
2Why the next one seems fineBefore I argue with the next one, I want to be fair to it, because there's nothing foolish in wanting to know what's behind the door. It's good. The drama…2 min
3"I decided to watch another"Start with the belief that the overrun was a choice. You wanted to see what was behind the door, so you watched on. That's a decision, and a person is…2 min
4"It's just one more episode"Here's the sentence itself. Just one more. Said at quarter past ten, and again at eleven, and it's true each time, in the sense that one more is one more.…2 min
5"I need to know what happens"The cliff is the part you'd defend. The detective opened the door. Something was behind it. You can't sleep on that. Consider when the wanting arrived.…2 min
6"I'll just watch the first two minutes"There's a compromise the cliff offers, and it feels reasonable. You won't watch the next one. You'll just watch the first two minutes, to see what was…2 min
7"It's relaxing"You'd say the whole point is rest. The evening in front of the drama is the one stretch of the day where you're not doing anything, and a book that wants…2 min
8"I can stop whenever I want"You'd say the countdown doesn't control you. You can press stop. You've done it. The remote's right there. Look at what stopping used to require and what…2 min
9"I'll finish the series and then stop"Some readers will grant everything and hold out for the end of the series. Four episodes left. Once it's done, the evenings go back to normal. The overrun…2 min
10"It's my time, I've earned it"The evening on the sofa is yours. The day was other people's, and the hour after the kitchen is the one hour that isn't, and if you want to spend it on…2 min
11"I'm not tired"At eleven, when the second one ends and the countdown starts, you're not tired. You were tired at ten. At eleven you're alert, and alert people don't go…2 min
12"It's the only time we spend together"For couples, the sofa is the evening. Children down, kitchen done, the two of you and the drama. Take the episodes away and you've taken away the one…2 min
13"Everyone binges now"Look around. Everyone watched the lake thing in a weekend. Three a night is how television is watched now, and a book that treats it as a problem is…2 min
14"I can't sleep straight after anyway"Here's a belief that turns the overrun into a kind of hygiene. If you stop at quarter past ten, you're not going to fall asleep at quarter past ten.…2 min
15"I've paid for it, I should use it"The subscription is fourteen pounds a month, and it's fourteen pounds whether you watch one episode or thirty, and there's a feeling that stopping at one…2 min
16"Turning autoplay off is fiddly"The method's first step is a setting, and the objection to it is that the setting is buried and the menu is annoying and you'll do it at the weekend. It…2 min
17"I'd feel like I was missing out"Some of the overrun is about the conversation at work. Everyone's on episode six and you're on episode three, and there's a fear of being the one who…2 min
18What the next one costs youI've argued the mechanism. This chapter is the bill, and most of it is paid at seven the next morning. The sleep. Exelmans's finding was that frequent…2 min
19What it does to the showThere's a cost that lands on the drama itself, and it's the one that persuades people who love television, because it's about the loving. Amit Kumar…2 min
20Turn autoplay offThe next three chapters are the method, and this one is a settings menu, which makes it the shortest and most effective chapter in the book. Every…2 min
21Decide the number before the firstAutoplay off gives you the stop. This chapter is about deciding, before the evening starts, where it goes. Say the number before the first episode. One…2 min
22The end of the eveningThe number handles the episodes. This chapter is about the evening they sit in, because the evening is where the alarm at seven gets decided. An end time.…2 min
23The decisionYou've got the argument and the method. What's left is to decide, and I'd like the decision to fit in one sentence. Autoplay is off. I decide the number…2 min
24Weekends, the whole series on a Sunday, children, partners and when the sofa is more than a habitThe rule holds every night. A few situations need their own paragraph. Weekends. The number can be two, or three, when the alarm isn't at seven. The end…2 min
25When it was midnight againIt'll happen. A new series with a door at the end of every episode, a Friday that felt like a Saturday, autoplay quietly back on after an update, and…1 min
26The credits rollIt's half past nine, some months on. The kitchen's done and the children are down and you put on the drama, the new one, the one with the lighthouse. You…2 min
·NotesThis book gives general information about an everyday habit. It isn't medical advice, and it's no substitute for a GP or a sleep clinic that knows you.…3 min