Should You Read or Watch Netflix for Self-Development?
Should you read Becoming by Michelle Obama or binged evert season of Big Mouth on Netflix to become a better person? Ask a thousand people and 99% would likely choose the former.
The reason, however, is based upon a false reality regarding the perceived value of these two activities.
People who spend their free time watching television are lazy and their minds are turning to mush. Those who read vigorously are intellectuals.
At least, these are the generic stereotypes we have.
The reality, however, is that both mediums have the ability to open up a new world of discovery and learning to the audience.
They’re each capable of expanding imaginations, fostering creativity, teaching empathy, developing language skills, improving memory, or simply providing entertainment and a brief escape from the stress of everyday life.
Reading and watching television are inherently neutral when compared side-by-side. Their real value is measured based on what one does after engaged in the activity.
Knowledge is utterly useless unless it becomes a tool for a practical purpose. It’s like loading a program onto a computer but never launching it. You went through the effort to obtain and install it, but you received no utility from it. Wasted exertion.
I could spend the entire day reading the dictionary while you watch The Walking Dead.
But, if you bond with a new friend over the gore in Rick Grimes’ latest killing spree while I never make use of a new word in my vocabulary then your time was better spent than mine.
Who has made a bigger impact on the world?
a) A child watching ten episodes of Fuller House who changes her behavior toward her friends because of lessons she learned from Uncle Jesse, or
b) The CEO who reads ten books on management, pays each lip service to impress his peers, and never changes his own behavior.
If you read dozens of self-improvement articles on the internet but do nothing with the content, you’re in the same place you would have been if you’d just gone to Facebook or Instagram and looked at pictures of food.
It’s perfectly acceptable if you’re just looking for entertainment, but be honest and acknowledge no self-improvement actually occurred unless you use what you’ve learned.
So drop that book and binge-watch television! I’d look more favorably upon a parent who consumed Big Mouth, remembers how hard puberty was, and goes to bond with their teenager over it rather than the person who read Becoming and simply felt inspired for a few hours before falling asleep.
By the way, Michelle knows this. There’s a reason why she chose to include a journal with her book. She understands that reflecting on and engaging with knowledge is the only way it becomes valuable.
