Editorial - Too Much of a Good Thing Is Bad For You

Happy new year and welcome back! Obviously, as it’s a new semester, the majority of you should have a pretty calm month or two, free of assignments and tests until, all of a sudden, around March you’ll have 2 assignments due and 3 in-class tests in a week. Now, this is probably where you expect me to plead with you to stay on top of your work, go to lectures, try get some work done every day and that it then won’t be such a big shock when you actually have things to do, and I normally would, but after a few years here, I know that’s not going to happen, and that anything I say will go in one ear and out the other. So enjoy your first, few, stress-free weeks, you’ll need it later.Over the holidays, it’s been nice to have to do nothing. Personally, there was no deadlines, nothing had to be read or researched and I pretty much had the freedom to do whatever I want, but unfortunately, for some reason I can’t really explain, having so much free time made me feel uptight and unable to sit still, and that is for one simple reason. The fact that I had nothing to do meant that there was so many things I could do, and choosing between what to do was very difficult.Choosing what to watch on Netflix is even becoming more difficult. Over study week and during early December, I was adding things to my to watch list, and by the time exams had finally finished my list was 20 items long. When it came to actually choosing what to watch, I usually had to use IMDB to check each show’s rating to choose which show had the best rating, to use my time most wisely. Even then though, I still felt as though I might be missing out on something that I’d enjoy, and could be my favourite show if I gave it a chance. The possibilities were endless. The same with music, books, film, football matches and for some reason every YouTuber I’m subscribed to decided to upload a ‘Top 10 of 2017’ video, the majority of which were over thirty minutes long.As content becomes so accessible, and so easy to make, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep on top of it, and for some people it’s beginning to have negative effects. On Netflix particularly once a series drops, it always seems that as soon as you’re getting into one show, another ‘Must-Watch’ appears and makes you rush through the first show just to see it, leaving the book you’ve been intending to read for the last year dormant on the shelf.  In a world full of distractions, when does continuous content become too much?We have a wonderful semester lined up here at Byline and the Express, with interviews from the likes of food critics, musicians, actors and designers planned for the next five issues. From all of our writers, welcome back, we’re sorry it’s so early!