Comfort in Chaos by Claire Jung

To write this article, I’m taking a break from rewatching episodes of “Gilmore Girls,” a show that has been my go-to source of comfort since moving into my first apartment this past August. I sat alone in that strange, new environment (my roommate wouldn’t be moving in for another week), and the place was unnervingly quiet. I’m a sophomore so I hadn’t been to classes in person yet, and therefore had no friends nearby. To cope with this big life change and disruption to my routine, I needed to retreat to familiarity. I surrounded myself with a world of heart-warming storylines and snappy dialogue, where I can predict each plot point and happy endings can be found every 43 minutes. I would start and end my day with something that made me feel safe and reminded me of home, and I’ve continued to do this into the school year, which is filled with its own brand of uncertainty and stress.

I’m not alone in this simple desire of escapism, especially during a time that is rife with overwhelming stimuli and unexpected events. I noticed during lockdown in 2020 I was rewatching “New Girl” and shows from my childhood like “iCarly.” Adi Nimrodi (CD, ‘24) says that she had “rewatched all the seasons of ‘Gilmore Girls’ and ‘New Girl’ during Covid,” and she continues to watch them now because, “‘New Girl’ reminds me of my sister and ‘Gilmore Girls’ reminds me of my mom since I watched those shows with them.” Thinking about that time two years later makes it seem almost silly that I, and many other people, were spending that time rewatching things we had already seen instead of trying to seek new experiences. But we didn’t have the luxury of hindsight in 2020, and many of us were scared and coping with a world turned upside down. According to Nielsen, a data and market measurement firm, “The Office” had “over 87 million minutes of viewership in the year 2020 alone.” Ceci Acosta (CD, ‘24) is one of those viewers, and she comments that these types of shows “are something I throw on to watch that I don’t have to pay attention to since I know what happens.” People often find themselves in need of background noise to focus or relax. In an article from the LA Times, Jonas Braasch states, “listening to background sounds may provide a sense of being safe … On a fundamental level, it gives you the feeling of not being alone.’”

Netflix alone has more than 1,800 television shows available to their subscribers, so why keep watching the same old shows? If you ask me (a cynic), there’s been a significant decline in the quality of entertainment since the 2010s, so rewatching old media is a must. More practically, it should be taken into account that the world was put on pause for a while at the start of the pandemic, slowing the production of new entertainment and canceling others. Still, the comfort show phenomenon is mostly due to the cognitive load people have been experiencing for the last two years. According to Psychology Today, “cognitive load refers to the amount of stress put on our working memory, and during the pandemic, we had to keep up with more information and make more decisions (and more crucial, potentially risky decisions) than we normally did.” Rewatching a lighthearted show gives us the luxury of predictability, something we lack even more in a world recovering from the aftermath of lockdown. There’s no stress in processing the stimuli we get from these shows and we have the security of knowing how things turn out in the end.

This feeling isn’t specific to television shows because familiarity as a form of comfort applies to all forms of media and entertainment. Cheyenne Syrek (CD, ‘24) prefers to watch movies like “The Iron Giant” for quick comfort. She says, “movies are for when I’m having a really rough time and I don’t know what’s going on in my life [because] they provide comfort that is wrapped up in one day.” Danielle Limmer (CD, ‘24) turns to music, listening to “Box of Rain” by Grateful Dead when she’s sad and misses her parents or needs to relax. She says, “the Grateful Dead helps me pay attention and it’s soothing to me so I do my homework [while listening to them],” echoing the positive cognitive effects of background noise.

Some people also turn to activities and hobbies to help them escape the stress of everyday life. Lockdown and the popularity of TikTok helped a rise in creative pastimes from whipped coffee to DIY terrariums to paint pouring. According to NPR, creative pursuits can lower stress, and a study showed that, “45 minutes of creating art in a studio setting with an art therapist significantly lowered cortisol levels.” Tiffany Berg (CD, ‘25) finds this to be true, as she uses drawing and painting as sources of comfort and calm. She says, “my mind goes blank and I just completely stop thinking about my life… hours can go by and it doesn’t feel like it.”

Whether you’re rewatching an old sitcom for the millionth time or blasting your favorite album on repeat, the choice to seek solace in familiar forms of media is a service to your brain. It helps you feel happy and in control, so while it may make you think you’re stuck, just know there’s no shame in letting your brain turn off for a bit.

As a school of artists and creatives, it’s encouraging to remember that the things we make have the potential to be someone’s comfort. We have the power to disrupt the social norms of society, but more importantly we have the power to make people feel safe and heard.