Reached episode 300 in my backlog and almost quit anime entirely

I keep a spreadsheet of everything I watch. Got to episode 300 logged last Tuesday and something snapped. I realized I had spent over 100 hours on shows I barely remembered. The titles all blur together now. It felt less like a hobby and more like homework. I almost deleted the whole list. Instead I went back and checked my favorites from before the number got big. They still held up. So the number itself was the warning. It told me I was watching to finish things instead of because I liked them. Has anyone else hit a point where their own watching habits scared them straight? Be honest, did it change what you pick up next?

3 comments

3 Comments

taylor_wells2d ago

I read somewhere that your brain actually stops forming strong memories for stuff you binge past a certain point, like the 200th episode of similar shows just goes into a fog. That matches what you said about the 300 mark feeling like a wall. When I got to about 150 logged, I started using a 3 episode rule where I drop something if it doesn't grab me by then, and it saved my hobby. Do you think keeping the spreadsheet actually made it worse, or was it just the thing that showed you the problem?

craig.parker2d ago

Drop the spreadsheet entirely for a month and just watch stuff cold, you will feel the difference fast.

barbaradavis2d ago

Ha! My spreadsheet is basically a graveyard of shows I gave up on, same deal.