The good old days of Cartoon Network

Remember the good old days of Cartoon Network? I used to wait for a few shows that I liked such as Dexter's Laboratory and Pokemon, and would end up watching a few more shows that aired before or after those. I'd also enjoy the ads running between these shows, like the Cadburry Dairy Milk ad, the Indian one- Kitna Maaza Aye re!

Those days were truly special. No stress, no complicated decision-making, just go to the Cartoon Network channel, and watch whatever is on, even the ads were unskippable. I had my own TV, which would always be on Cartoon Network, I'd just turn it on and there it was - my most favorite channel that never disappointed me.

Whereas in today's world, watching Netflix doesn't feel like such an easy thing to do. We press so many buttons to get to Netflix on our smart TVs, then browse aimlessly to try to find something good. So many movies and shows, yet we end up rewatching Friends for the 1000th time.

Because it's comfortable, no need to decide, or try to follow the show, we all enjoy the familiarity and comfort of not trying to decide which show to watch. We kinda want someone else to decide for us, so that the burden of decision-making is on a group of curators, people with superior taste and understanding of the demographic. While today's TVs and devices are certainly a lot smarter, the magic of the old times was in the simplicity - we wouldn't have to make a lot of decisions.

If we see things from that perspective, the TV of those times can be considered a better product in terms of simplicity over today's TVs with OTT platforms, and YouTube.

Similarly, FM Radio days were so much more soulful than today's Spotify. There was a sense of community, shows were time-bound, which matched people's office timing, or could connect the night owls in ways that involved many interesting and engaging things, and music was a major part of it. I'd wait for a particular song to be played, and when it played, it was pure satisfaction. I remember listening to Arnob's 'Tomar Jonno' or Stoic Bliss's 'Abar Jigay' in my pocket FM Radio, those songs just blew my mind.

Spotify made listening to music somewhat intentional, and you're focusing on the interface to find a song you'd want to listen to. Sometimes you play one song repeatedly, sometimes you want to avoid listening to the same old songs and try to find something that resonates, then sometimes give up, put your AirPods back in their little case, and the case in your pocket. The decision-making process in a product should not be too intentional or shouldn't take too much of our attention, or brainpower. That's probably why it doesn't truly blend with our life like the FM Radios did back in its golden era.

If we make many decisions for a prolonged time, decision fatigue kicks in, and we completely stop doing the thing that made us think. Many people cancel their Netflix subscriptions saying that there aren't enough good shows there, but the truth is, even if there were, that wouldn't solve the problem of Netflix requiring too much decision-making. And over time, it makes the process even less bearable.

In the modern world, in just one day, we make many decisions, and when we take a break, we have to make more decisions and analyze just shows to watch - which one would match my mood, which one should I watch to be entertained and also will be considered tasteful by my peers - so many moving parts in just watching a show. This causes analysis paralysis, which leads to procrastination.

You're already procrastinating on that office work, and now procrastinating on finishing a particular show - because it feels more like a pending task. And you're not going to miss out on anything, because this isn't live TV.

If you compare cable TV with Netflix or YouTube, even though they are from different timelines and it's an unfair comparison, from the point of view of less decision-making, cable TV and FM Radio would win. And this arguably makes those products better.

"Everything should be as simple as possible, but not simpler." Einstein was onto something when he said that.