Before you judge me for wanting to keep up with the Kardashians, please know that I am being quite serious. It may be true that first world problems don't get more first world than this, but keeping up with TV shows/films/books, etc. is actually becoming an issue in my day-to-day life.
Everywhere you go, someone is recommending a new movie to go and see, or a new book I should read or a TV series I should catch up with. I just don't have the time (or money in the case of the cinema, and of COURSE I don't download movies illegally -- I have morals). Once I get home from school, do my homework and go to the gym (admittedly, this is rare), I just don't have enough energy to pick up a book or even put on a movie.
To be honest, my addiction to my phone is partly to blame for this: It's terrifying that whenever I open Instagram for "10 minutes," it somehow turns into two and a half hours. But the problem is also due to the ease of access to these TV shows and movies: Netflix has enough content to keep me happy for an eternity, and all I have to do to watch them is open up my laptop.
Sometimes, the idea of having all these great, unwatched TV shows stored up for the holidays is more fun than actually sitting down to watch them. I delay watching them because I want to save them. This just exacerbates the problem. Even for a die-hard addict, after the sixth episode of Sex and the City without moving, hearing Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda discussing their relationships over brunch can -- believe it or not -- become kind of boring. So I switch it off, intending to finish the series another day, and lo and behold, "Finish Series 4" is still on my to-do list.
And it's not just TV shows -- it's rather depressing that, having created a 'to-watch' list of movies in 2012, 48 out of the 50 on my list remain unwatched. During school time, I feel like I can't allow myself to switch on a movie, because I should be working, but I will allow myself to scroll through Twitter, because I tell myself it will only be for a few minutes. Unfortunately, I end up spending so much time on Twitter, then Instagram, then Facebook, then CNN (mainly for Anderson Cooper), that I may as well have watched a good movie.
So, how to solve this very teenage and 21st Century problem... I have started to add watching episodes of TV shows to the very end of my to-do list, so that they become something I "should" do, not just something I want to do. I think it's about using free time more wisely, so that I get to watch all the shows and movies I want to watch, without it affecting homework or the rest of my life.
Also, it's about choosing wisely: I haven't read or seen The Hunger Games because frankly, the idea of the story just doesn't interest me. Despite the fact that the whole world was talking about it last year, it passed over me in the same way that Game of Thrones has this year. But that's okay: I prefer re-runs of Sex and the City from 2001, or Keeping Up with the Kardashians episodes filled with drama that I've already read about in magazines. I do realize there is much more to life than finding out about Kim K's alleged butt implants, but at the same time, it's important to properly enjoy your free time, rather than spend it watching shows you feel you "should" watch just to keep up with everyone else.