Drama slump/burnout

hi,

so for the past year and a half (maybe even more than that), I've been struggling with drama slump/burnout

I was wondering if there's anything I can do about it? 

I just wanted to start a random kdrama (called W) and had to quit in the first minute, immediately after seeing the onslaught of subtitles pouring onto the screen

just said "shut up" like three times, and closed the browser tab

I'm so tired. would simply watching a drama "cure" me from this burnout? or should I wait this one out

already made plans for 2026, I'm gonna watch at least the series for my mdl friends bingo. but my heart isn't in it

any advice would be super helpful. or even drama and movie recs. anything at this point ;_;

 zenzenzen:

I think this means you have completely habituated to the reward of watching dramas. There is ample psychological science behind this. The only 'cure' is to restore your appetite for the reward. It's just like when you are binge-eating nonstop and begin to find food repulsive. If you close your laptop and go hiking in the woods every day for a couple weeks without looking at the internet at all, you will have a strong appetite again. Of course, nobody does that.

Most people these days are starting to suffer from severe "brain rot" where the over-indulgence in short-attention demand media has caused a total breakdown in their ability to concentrate for long periods. So increasingly, the idea of directing your attention at 16 hours of kdrama is impossible for a lot of people.  It's not like you're going to find a "good one" that will hold your attention. This is all about mental appetite. 

Hmm I am unable to hike in the woods but I can try to disconnect from the Internet for longer periods of time. If I check MDL notifs and emails once a day, that's good enough, right?

I just want to get back my zest for life. 😩 

That and I was able to get the usual feeling back by watching short clips of Revenged Love Zi Yu and Tian Xu Ning on IG reels. It's short clips but I would love to rewatch this series. I don't know why more series aren't like this one. Really captured my attention from start to end.

Oh and about kdramas, I'm not too upset I couldn't get into W or anything else. I don't really watch kdramas, for some reason I was always unable to watch them. I'm more into J-dramas and C-dramas lol

But yeah, I know what you mean. The answer is to disconnect for a few weeks. I'll give it a month tbh. Let December be No Internet month.

Try variety shows or a completely new genre or country. But you could also try to detox like zenzenzen's advice. I'm too obsessed with internet to do detox. And I can't live without entertainment, gossip, and music. And I'm camping on mdl. 😅

Back then when I had drama slump, I watched Culinary Class Wars. There's also its second season airing on December iirc.

 autumn iris:

And I'm camping on mdl. 😅

Yeah I noticed you respond to a lot of threads on here lol

Thanks for the advice, I'll see what I can do.

 ThiSong:

What kind of advice would you give them?

Well yeah, I know what you mean. I'd tell them to either listen to some other genre or stop listening to music for a while. Indeed, watching dramas and anime is a hobby. I can probably get past the initial discomfort of not doing these activities and take a break.

Even so, I am afraid after the break, I won't want to watch drama anymore. It happened with anime. I have watched it for years and a couple years back I had enough. Since then I've seen very few anime.