Many of you following me know that I love Netflix and other streaming providers. Some of you may also know that I always look for a way to learn things in a non-conventional manner. I publish a weekly newsletter exploring the same theme.
In other words, I want to use the media like TV series or YouTube videos to change my world view on any topic and learn a thing or two. I know that books are a great medium to get into the skin of another person. You can know their environment, their politics, their inner underpinnings by reading a good novel. The only downside with a book is it is expensive.
No. I am not talking in the monetary sense. A good book costs less than a nice meal. It is costly in terms of the attention and the quality of focus it seeks from you. I still love reading fiction books and enjoy them. But binge-watching a nicely made TV series is as good as reading a book.
If you take any good TV show, it has at least 6 to 10 episodes in a season. If the show is really great, there is a high possibility of having more than 2 or 3 seasons. If 30 mins is an average episode time, you generally spend 600 mins or 700 mins (10+ hours) in immersing yourself in the show.
Like in a good novel, you get to know about the environment and settings better. You can know the side characters better, which brings more meaning to the plot. Basically, your senses get immersed for those 10 hours with the characters and the writers of the show. In my opinion that alone is very important.
Paul Graham has argued it very nicely in one of his essays:
Reading and experience train your model of the world. And even if you forget the experience or what you read, its effect on your model of the world persists. Your mind is like a compiled program you've lost the source of. It works, but you don't know why.
If you are someone guilt-tripped by your friends on not reading books, fear not. Watching good TV shows and bingeing on them is good. You get all the benefit of reading fiction, like empathy, with TV as well.