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Was anyone able to escape the promotional blitz around the final season of Stranger Things? The show seemed to be everywhere, dominating social media feeds and charting Netflix homepages worldwide. And it wasn’t alone: The White Lotus, Severance, Squid Game, The Last of Us... each had the same quality of ‘being everywhere all at once’, whether we had any intention to watch or not.
Despite having access to the largest collection of content in human history, our tastes have been looking increasingly similar lately. A handful of the same streaming platforms and their algorithmic curation lead us to consume the same movies, TV series, music, books, and ‘Trending Now’ picks.
It’s a well-known fact that we gravitate towards what feels familiar. This arguably explains why people rewatch their favorite shows or how Spotify’s ‘Discover Weekly’ playlist has become a staple of many’s Monday routines. Every week, we receive a curated selection of songs that sit comfortably close to what we already like: familiar enough to feel safe but novel enough to seem like a discovery. In other words — familiarity with a twist.
But when subscriptions dictate access, even choosing what we know requires us to ‘lock in’ to specific platforms. Devoted fans of particular franchises — for example, the Star Wars enthusiasts with Disney+ — have no choice but to commit to a single streaming service. If they want to “own” these shows or be able to watch them whenever they like, loyalty is mandatory, even if they’re already paying for other platforms.
And getting us to subscribe is only the beginning of what’s in store. Netflix's ‘Top 10’ lists and prominent ‘Trending Now’ charts act as self-fulfilling prophecies: by occupying prime digital real estate, they practically guarantee what will be popular. Think about the last time you were browsing for something new to watch. How often did you venture beyond those curated sections and seek out something a little obscure or out of your usual taste ‘comfort zone’?
And this passivity doesn’t just stop at what we watch, it’s also shaping how we watch. Actress and activist Jameela Jamil has spoken about how TV producers and writers now actively account for the ‘second screen’ in their creative process, ensuring that characters repeat key information and explicitly narrate their actions so that distracted viewers can easily keep up.
But many people are growing tired of the cycle. Overwhelmed by too many platforms and paradoxically paralyzed by too many choices, viewers are experiencing ‘subscription fatigue’. Some are cancelling their payments and returning to physical media — DVDs, vinyl records, and physical magazines — that offer true ownership and personal collections. Others are speaking out, with many publicly criticizing Spotify amid its end-of-year ‘Wrapped’ frenzy for letting AI algorithms dictate what music mattered most to us.
When so much of our media is pre-selected, there’s little space left for the element of surprise. There was something special in the randomness of watching whatever happened to be on TV or hearing an unexpected song because a radio DJ took a chance on it. These moments of genuine discovery, and encountering something the algorithm would never recommend, have become increasingly rare.
So during this holiday period, we invite you to take a risk. Watch something you normally wouldn’t, listen to music outside your usual genres, or pick up a book that challenges you. We’re not suggesting you cancel your Netflix account, just to push yourself into a direction you usually wouldn’t. You might just learn something new about what you like — or don’t — in the process.
And if you do stumble onto something unexpected, we’d love to hear about it. Send us a message!
Sanjna, Estelle & Anna
P.S. We’re taking a break for the holidays and will be back in your inbox every other Wednesday starting January 21st, 2026.
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Some numbers
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5 days
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Americans waste about 5 days a year just deciding what to watch.
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200 million
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200 million people viewed their Spotify Wrapped on the day it was released, up 19% compared to last year’s edition, which received criticism for using too much AI.
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20%
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Around 20 % of viewers don’t make it past the first episode, moving on before familiarity has a chance to form.
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Read between the lines
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Welcome to the AirSpace — Kyle Chayka, The Verge (2016)
This article examines how digital platforms like Airbnb, Instagram, and Foursquare influence physical spaces, contributing to a growing aesthetic uniformity across cities worldwide.
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The rise of AI art is spurring a revival of analogue media — The Economist (2025)
A documentation of the growing resurgence of analogue media — vinyl, cassettes, film photography, print magazines, and 35mm cinema — driven by nostalgia, resistance to AI-mediated culture and algorithm fatigue.
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How Letterboxd became a haven for the algorithm-averse
An account of how Letterboxd has become a refuge from algorithmic recommendations, turning film discovery into a social, subjective act. Through personal logs, niche lists, and conversation, the platform revives the pleasure of finding films through people rather than feeds.
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Platforms to surprise you
Recommend Me a Book
A website that presents you with a random page from a book without revealing the title, so you can pick your next read solely based on if you like the writing.
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Every Noise at Once
An interactive map of over 5,000 music genres. If you click on any that’s unfamiliar to you, you’ll hear a sample playlist of songs in that style. It closed down in 2025 after 10 years of activity.
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Reelgood TV Roulette
If you want to put an end to decision fatigue, tell this random generator what streaming platforms you have access to and it will pick your next great watch.
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Radio Garden
A website that lets you spin the globe, select a local radio station around the world, and listen in to what’s playing at that given moment.
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TAPEFEAR
A curated archive of obscure and experimental recordings, centered on cassettes, bootlegs, and niche releases — a music discovery path driven by deep digging rather than algorithms.
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PlayPhrase
A tool that lets you search a phrase and see how it echoes across films and TV, turning language itself into a sideways route through cinema culture.
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What we’re looking forward to
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Sanjna
December always feels like peak content season with those endless ‘Best of the Year’ lists covering everything from books and movies to podcasts, TV shows, innovations, and albums. As someone who always keeps my own lists on my phone and scattered across a dozen journals, this season I want to slow down and revisit the things I jotted down in a rush. Was that recommendation from this year, last year, or five years ago? Not sure, but it’s time to rediscover.
1. Local cinema offering: There is a small cinema close to where my family lives that offers about 2-3 movies a day. The selection is great, with many movies I have been meaning to watch but have not had the chance yet. Over the holidays, I plan on being here a few times. On the list: “A Simple Accident”, “Father, Mother, Sister, Brother” and “Ghostlight”.
2. A long, long book: During busy periods, I sometimes shy away from longer books because I feel I lack the time to commit. When a break comes around then, I go all in. For this year, I’ve selected the nearly 700-page-long new book by Kiran Desai “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny”.
3. Puzzle & music recommendations: My sister and I do a 1000-piece puzzle every Christmas break. It's become my annual music discovery session: she controls the speakers, introducing me to songs I'd never find on my own. With our 9-year age gap, she's my window into what the cool cats are listening to.
Estelle
Ironically, whenever a show was heavily hyped or seemed to be what everyone was watching, it usually put me off — as if I’d already watched it without really watching it. Years later, I find myself catching up on series long after the collective moment has passed. Music followed a similar path. A couple of years ago, I cancelled my Spotify subscription after realising how repetitive my listening habits had become, shaped by an algorithm that favoured the familiar over the niche. During the holidays, I want to linger with what’s already there, rather than chase what’s new. Here’s what I’m spending time with:
1. Popular shows, watched out of context: Instead of chasing new releases, I’m finally watching a few flagship series I skipped when they first aired: Gilmore Girls, The Crown, Game of Thrones (yes, I know). Seen years later, outside the hype cycle and weekly discourse, they feel less like events and more like personal discoveries.
2. Revisiting a childhood fantasy series: I’m rereading Inkheart, a fantasy series from my childhood, as a way out of a reading slump and back into the simple rhythm of reading. There’s no pressure to learn something new or keep up with what’s current, just following a story for the joy of it.
3. Listening without a subscription: I’m relying on YouTube and SoundCloud the way I did in the early 2010s, alongside rediscovering CDs and vinyl from my family’s archive. It’s slower and less frictionless, but it makes listening feel more deliberate, guided by curiosity rather than recommendations.
Anna
Between the ones I pay for myself and the ones I mooch off of family members, I’m definitely guilty of having access to more streaming services than I could ever need. Even so, I still find myself in the depths of decision fatigue on a regular basis. Most of the time, I just end up rewatching old favorites (usually just Gilmore Girls; I’ve watched it more times than I would care to admit) just because it’s the easiest option. But over the next few weeks, I want to actively challenge myself to pick up formats and absorb information that I usually wouldn’t. Here’s what’s on my list:
1. Backstreet Cultural Museum: I’ll be spending the period between Christmas and New Year’s exploring New Orleans, and I’m excited to learn all about the history of Mardis Gras and other traditions specific to the city in this museum, which came highly recommended.
2. Gittersee — Charlotte Gneuß: I’ve always preferred reading books in English, because it’s more convenient. But in the new year, one goal of mine is to switch it up and pick up German works as well, starting with this one set in former Eastern Germany. 16-year-old Karin is recruited to be a Stasi informer, following the defection of her boyfriend to the West.
3. Dangerous Memories — Tortoise Media: I find podcasts, especially investigative journalism, to be a great format to digest more challenging information. This one focuses on a group of English women who start to see an intriguing therapist figure in Florence and what happens when they do.
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Enjoying NOC? Your friends, family, community and colleagues might too. Here is a link for you to share this edition with them.
Link to this edition
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IRL subscriptions
Yes, these are subscriptions too — but in a different sense. Instead of keeping you glued to your screen, they are designed to expose you to new experiences and offline formats (in real life), from cinema and independent magazines to physical books outside of your usual genre.
Mubi GO
MUBI Go — currently active in the UK, US, Ireland, and Mexico — takes the guesswork out of what to watch by giving members one carefully selected film and a reason to go to their local cinema every week.
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Stack
Stack delivers one handpicked independent magazine a month, without giving you any indication of what it might be, making discovery a physical experience again.
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Book of the Month
With a monthly shortlist chosen by editors, Book of the Month helps subscribers find great books they might’ve otherwise overlooked.
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