How different would your life be without the streaming services we all know and love? I know: it’s hard to imagine, but that’s exactly what I’ve done over the past two months, with some interesting results in my downtime.

6

No More Late Night Binging

I’m on record for going out of my way to avoid binge-watching shows, a bad habit I blame entirely on streaming services. For the most part, I managed to avoid binge-watching any show, though the show Chernobyl made me break my rule. However, I’m not beat up about it, as these things happen. But, after that, the floodgates were opened, and I was, once again, binge-watching shows before bed.

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Cancelling my streaming subscriptions was like ripping a Band-Aid off: painful, but worth it. You’d be surprised by how much better you sleep when you aren’t chaining episodes of a good show before bed. That’s just one solution. There are numerous ways to prevent TV from ruining your sleep!

5

I Was Reminded of My Love For Movie Theaters

Streaming services made watching movies and shows so convenient that when I started subscribing, it lined up perfectly with the decline of my regular visits to the movie theaters. And I love the theaters! It was one of my favorite pastimes growing up, and I realized the convenience of streaming got in the way.

That’s not to say I wasn’t going at all, but there was a notable difference. Once I was free, my partner and I started regularly scheduling movie theaters into date nights, which we both wanted to do more of, and the little bit of extra savings from my cancelled streaming subscriptions made it happen.

4

Streaming Was Causing Unnecessary Stress

For the same reason I don’t play many live service games, streaming services were conditioning me to watch content to justify the cost. A single service isn’t much of a difference, but who do you know who has only one? I had three vying for my attention. How can you ignore them at all when there are so many good movies and shows?

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Without those little devils on my shoulder, I was free to enjoy something at my own pace. I considered my mood when I bought or rented a movie, which led me to enjoy it even more. Was I missing out on some stuff? Sure, but I’ll get to it eventually. It’s not like it’s actually going anywhere.

3

My Physical Library is Growing at a Steady Pace

Although I still added physical media to my library while being subscribed to multiple streaming services, it’s the first time I’ve witnessed growth this fast. Obviously, saving money helps, especially when I cancelled three subscriptions. It wasn’t life-changing, per se, but I was able to take that small chunk and invest in the Plex server that hosts all my content.

With a bigger budget for physical media, my Plex server has ultimately grown, too, which really softened the blow when it came to on-demand content. More importantly, I can expand my Plex library for cheap and make the most of my newfound “riches.”

2

I Missed On-Demand Content

While I was ultimately better off for removing the temptation of instant gratification, which is okay in moderation, I did miss having content I’ve watched already, that I know is on that platform, and can play in the background. I’ve watched reruns of The Office both attentively and mostly by audio-only, like a white noise machine.

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What I didn’t want to do was fill that space with free streaming services, although my YouTube usage did increase. Surprisingly, it wasn’t entertainment with a capital “E” I was looking for, but videos about my interests and hobbies. Seeing a tablet off to the side open to YouTube videos about Dungeons & Dragons while I prep as a dungeon master was not a strange sight in my house. It has me seriously considering cutting out a streaming service just for a subscription to YouTube Premium.

1

Sometimes It’s the Only Way to Watch a Movie or Show

As much as I go out of my way to invest in physical media, it isn’t always an option. For example, Mike Flanagan’s Hush was entirely locked behind a Netflix subscription, under license, for seven years, and it still didn’t get a physical release until a year after that.

The hold streaming services have on some physical media was made even more apparent when I couldn’t experience it isolated from the platform itself. Rather than have a fit about it, I asked myself if I really cared all that much. What was the rush? How badly do I want to see it? Is it worth the price of admission? Maybe I can come to a compromise and go with a cheaper, ad-supported tier to watch a new release that’s only on streaming and cancel after.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I decided to cancel my streaming subscriptions, but a zen-like carelessness was not one of them. As it turns out, being bothered to watch this or watch that was like an alarm clock I couldn’t silence. I first needed to notice it was there.