Yesterday I spoke with a colleague. We discussed the government shutdown and other matters. She wondered aloud why more people aren’t up in arms about what’s happening to our country. I posited an answer: binge watching.

Of the two 20-century dystopian novels most in vogue when I was growing up, Brave New World was most on the money. Not for a moment underestimating 1984‘s Big Brother or the surveillance under which we now live, I think our peril lies in our pleasures, in our need for entertainment.

Enter binge-watching. In the last week, as my body has been trudging through January 2019, my mind and heart are lodged in Victorian England as I binge-watch the PBS series “Victoria.”  It’s a relatively innocent pleasure as pleasures go—and don’t get me wrong: I love it! But  I’ve noticed it makes me care a little less about present-day reality.

Binge-watching a show is addictive. I’m absorbed in my show just as the denizens of Brave New World were absorbed by their walls. All I need now is a little soma.

(Photo: Courtesy PBS)