Sometimes sunny days are just too sunny. That’s what I used to tell my mom when I was
a kid and sick of being outside in the summer.
She thought I was nuts. She may
still think I’m nuts. I’m not a
home-grown New Englander but I can complain about the weather with the best of
them. Yes, I griped about the cold and the snow all winter and groused about
any rainy day in the spring. Summer is finally here and the weather has been
perfect. Like San Diego-perfect. Like it’s a crime-to-stay-inside
perfect. And yet...sometimes sunny days
are just too sunny!
I once had a colleague tell me how burnt out he was after he
moved to California. A native Northeasterner, he had been programmed from birth
to get outside the minute the weather turned warm. Of course, every day in Southern California
is gorgeous and so he spent every spare minute pursuing outdoor
activities. He completely exhausted
himself with too much sunshine!
Californians didn’t think anything of staying inside since they had
complete assurance that tomorrow would be just as beautiful as today. But my colleague had not yet learned how to
pace himself in the face of perfect climate conditions.
So what are we to do when this amazing weather just wears us
down? We don’t have the kind of endurance that residents of warmer climates do.
The long, hot dog days of summer are coming and there will most definitely be a
point when “sunny days are just too sunny”.
We need to make sure we have enough down time if we are to survive this
unnatural good weather. As a librarian,
I feel obligated to remind you to have a good book at the ready for such days
when it’s all too much. But I’m a realist. I know a lot of us need passive
entertainment. So it’s time to “Netflix
and binge”, as the kids say. Not on food
but on the Golden Age of television that is currently sweeping the nation. Binge watching is our latest TV phenomenon
and the library is on board.
What is binge-watching?
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, binge-watching is the act of
watching multiple episodes of a television programme in rapid succession,
typically by means of DVDs or digital streaming. Binge watching has changed the way the we
watch television and certainly the way we critique a show’s content. Binge
watching has even changed the way streaming services and networks deliver shows
for viewing, most notably with Netflix and Amazon Prime Video making whole new
seasons of shows available on one specific day.
It’s actually become a point of pride in certain circles to brag about
how long it took you to binge on the latest season of your favorite show.
Not everyone approves of this trend. In 2012 for Slate Magazine, Jim Pagels calls
binge-watching a pandemic and claims that watching episodes in rapid succession
ruins the joy and the artistic merit of TV as a format. Pagels posits
traditional television schedules offer viewers time to develop deep
relationships with characters over a number of years and the critical distance
to build up plot analysis necessary to enjoying long story arcs. That theory is unnecessarily archaic and
doesn’t give smart TV viewers enough credit for their critical eye. It also doesn’t acknowledge reality! We live in an age where appointment
television is not something our busy lives can accommodate. We can, however, fit our favorite programs in
when time allows and binge watching caters to our full schedules.
So how does the library support the art of the
binge-watch? First, any TV series on DVD
that the library owns will now circulate for three weeks instead of one. Even though binge-watching is consuming our
culture, library staff found that our patrons don’t let it consume their whole
lives and that one week was simply not enough time to finish an entire season
of a show. Secondly, the library now subscribes to our very own online
streaming service, Hoopla. Hoopla give
all Norwood residents with a Morrill Memorial Library card access to hundreds
of TV shows that can be streamed on any computer through Hoopla’s website or
any mobile device with the free Hoopla app.
Finally, the library
circulates four actual Roku streaming devices to our patrons! The Roku 1 allows our patrons with older TVs
to turn them into smart TVs! This device
comes with a remote, one HDMI cable, a set of standard A/V hookups, and
instructions. In addition, the library
also owns three Roku Streaming Sticks.
These portable devices can be hooked up to any HDMI port on a computer
or TV. All of these Roku devices allow you to use various streaming services to
watch TV and movies. The library has
also subscribed to a Netflix account for our Roku streaming devices. Additionally, the Roku search feature on all
its devices will allow people to search for content across multiple streaming
services like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and HBOGo. The library’s Roku streaming devices have
become very popular so be sure to speak to a staff member about reserving one
if you are interested in borrowing one.
