I recently finished Stranger Things and something bothered me. No, it is not something about Stranger Things; it is more general. But the fact that you thought I had a comment to make on it is part of the problem.

The point is that we hyperdigest media. The last episode of Stranger Things (but it works the same with any other media) was released on January 2nd, and in less than 24 hours we already had any possible opinion and debate about it. In 24 hours it was already dissected, digested, analyzed, and–apparently–every human online had an opinion on it.

A strong opinion, as that! Because everything sucks or is a masterpiece. No in between. Because in-between opinions are not bold enough and they displease the ego-boosting algorithm gods.

I hate that we lost the nuances. I hate that we lost the patience to stay with some piece of media on our own; that we lost the privilege of not having an opinion, or to change it after some time.

Some of my favorite books and movies are books and movies that I didn’t like at first. They confused me. They irritated me. Then, over time, they stuck with me. I would find myself returning to them again and again. When I first watched Perfect Days, for instance, I gave it 3 stars out of 5. But it remained with me. After a month I watched it again, and I liked it more. Now it is probably one of my most quoted movies of the last ten years (look, I did it again!).¹

I didn’t dissect every plot hole. I didn’t watch a YouTube video explaining to me why it sucks or why it is a masterpiece. I just watched it, let it filter through my soul, and after a month distilled some opinion. An opinion that may change in the future, by the way.

At the end of the day, though, this media hyperdigestion does not harm me (at least not directly). But maybe, just maybe, you should try to slowly absorb a book, a movie, or an album. Just let it sit in you without an opinion and without other people’s opinions. Maybe, just maybe, you’ll find your unique take on it.