What our speed-watching at 1.5x habit says about us
It is a subtle erosion. Not dramatic. Not dystopian. Just a slow and calm recalibration in the way we commit – with stories, with each other and with ourselves.
But there is another perspective to hold. Priyanka Varma, psychologist and founder of The Thought Co., has openly speed podcasts and does not think that the habit is intrinsically harmful. “Time is our most precious real estate. It is not necessarily bad – it depends on the way and the reason why we do it, ”she says.
She suggests that the observation of speed is not always a reflex to escape. It can be strategic. “Everyone is starting to appreciate their time much more and wants to do more with their time. Because, once again, twenty-four hours a day-I know I have to sleep, I know I have to work, I need to do an hour at the gymnasium … Let us with how long to learn? “
And the intention behind this is what really matters. “This is how you consume it and why. If you do it in a way that helps you lead a more balanced life, it’s not bad. ”
However, the reason is difficult to ignore. An increasing number of us are now consuming stories as we consume e -mails – ricche, half, while doing something else. The impulse to optimize each pocket of our time can flatten the very experiences that have anchored us.
“We learn to assimilate our value to what we do, not what we feel,” explains Manjani. This haste to be productive – even in leisure – often leaves us a type of completion without joy. “When we rush or pass stories,” she adds, “it allows us to know what happened in a story, but not to feel it.”
The result is a kind of emotional malnutrition. We lose the breath between the moments. Slow construction of intimacy. The resonance that only comes when we let something linger.
And this impatience is not limited to screens. This flees our conversations, our relationships and our ability to stay with discomfort. The break is embarrassing. I become clumsy. Silence, once a pleasant companion, slowly becomes something to fill, not with it.
But if speed is the norm, slowness begins to feel radical. The three experts note a quarter of work – the clients in search of depth, people turning around, calm, emotionally resonant. The platforms can accelerate, but certain parts of us ask to slow down.
