Everybody loves to indulge in some screen time now and again. Even people who will insist that they do not own televisions indulge in movies and videos via their laptops and mobile devices. No matter who you are, there is some sort of programming out there to entertain you. Yes, even you, hipsters who only like obscure things and living like you’re still in Victorian times.
Don’t believe us? Here are our suggestions for the best types of screen-based entertainment based on your personality type.
News Junkies
Some news junkies get their headlines by having news-based television or radio stations playing in the background all day. This can be a great way to catch breaking news, sure, but when nothing is breaking, 24/hour news stations tend to simply rehash the same few headlines over and over again. A better option is a news aggregator that you can call up on your tablet and customize to your personal preferences. For example, if you want to focus on local news, your news app can be adjusted to accommodate that. News aggregators help you find the latest headlines that are the most relevant to your interests, which saves you tons of time (and a lot of headache).
Sports Fans
Even people who would rather go outside and play their favorite sport can get tons of enjoyment from sports programming–especially football fans who love being able to see every play from every angle. Almost every cable and satellite company out there has some form of sports programming package into which you can attain. For example, if you have a satellite system, you can get satellite TV with all the NFL football games here.
It is also worth noting that if you enjoy fantasy football (or baseball or whatever), you can sometimes watch simulated games featuring fantasy-based teams on league websites and apps via your mobile device or your computer.
Gamers
Do you love playing games? While the screen time for video games might seem pretty obvious, you might not know that there is also passive entertainment for people who would rather watch someone else play through a setting than play it themselves. Twitch TV is set up to allow gamers to live stream their gaming sessions. Viewers of the channel can listen in on in-game chatter and can even contribute to the conversation via the Twitch chat.
For people who prefer table top games, have no fear, there is screen content for you too! The most famous, of course, is Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop series on YouTube’s Geek and Sundry channel. This show has helped introduce people of all ages to the fun that is table top games.
RPGers (Role Playing Games) (Like Dungeons and Dragons) can find content both on YouTube and Twitch. Wil Wheaton released a series called TitansGrave that showcases players playing through a new RPG setting. You can also find D&D and other RPG content on Twitch channels.
Music
It’s true that you can stream your favorite artists via a variety of streaming sources like Last.FM, Spotify, etc. If you want to really explore a musician’s work (without having to pay to download it all), you can search for them on YouTube. There are playlists featuring all of an artist’s music videos as well as fan videos set to popular songs. Many musicians release their music on YouTube before they send it to mainstream music programming since most channels made for music are more likely to feature scripted shows than music videos.
Television
This one probably seems obvious. There are lots of ways to watch your favorite shows these days. You can get traditional television programming via cable or satellite stations. You can also stream it via portals like Netflix, Hulu, etc. Station websites also broadcast the most recent episodes of their most popular shows for people who might not want to pay for a streaming service or be able to buy traditional cable.
YouTube
Maybe you like independent series and movies. There are many different wildly popular YouTube channels and networks out there. For example, if you like educational programming (or want some for your kids), you can find great shows on the Crash Course network. Geek and Sundry has lots of great geek culture based programming. The Vlogbrothers are wildly popular among the teen set and My Drunk Kitchen is a favorite among comedy enthusiasts. The Lizzie Bennett Diaries is an emmy award winning series based on Pride and Prejudice. Plug a few of your favorite subjects into the search engine and then enjoy all of the content presented to you!
The point is: there is lots of screen based entertainment out there for everybody! This list is just the beginning.
