Austin, 16, self-identifies as a “serial rewatcher”.
“You’ll catch me watching the same shows from my childhood,” the Adelaide teen says.
He says whenever he is sick, he watches the movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Austin’s go-to is a 1980s comedy. (BTN High: Sam Mckenzie)
“It always puts me at ease whenever I watch it,” Austin says.
“It brings back happy times or memories watching it with my family, my mates … [it] makes me calm.
“What I watch really makes me who I am.”
Whether it is an 80s classic, a long-running animation series, a Disney Channel favourite, or anything with Adam Sandler, many of us have TV shows or films we turn to over and over again when we are craving comfort.
“I know for me, Modern Family is a fun rewatch because it always makes you laugh,” Lilly, 18, says.
“Especially after a long day at work or at school, you’ve had such a busy day, you’ve learnt so many new things and so when you get to go home, you find that comfort in those shows that you love.”
Impact of COVID-19
The “comfort watch”, or comfort viewing, is when we repeatedly return to TV shows, films or other visual media that we have watched before.
Comfort viewing is not a new phenomenon, but it has grown with the rise of technology, taking off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Office, which finished its original run in 2013, became the most-watched show on Netflix in the US in 2020.
Siobhan Lyons, an academic and researcher in media and cultural studies at Macquarie University in Sydney, says if you think about what people were going through during that time — lockdowns, working from home, isolation — this makes a lot of sense.
“I’m not surprised that The Office became the number one streamed [show],” Dr Lyons says.
“It reminded people of what it was like to be, you know, amongst their workmates in an actual office.“
Why we rewatch shows
Psychologist Danya Braunstein says rewatching media that is familiar can give our brains a mental break.
Danya Braunstein says people use media as a distraction from challenges. (Supplied)
“Our brain slows down to produce alpha waves, which are associated with being in a relaxed and dreamlike state,” Ms Braunstein says.
“It feels good, especially if you’re using media as a way to kind of distract from or avoid other things that are challenging.“
Nostalgia — that happy, slightly sad feeling of longing and desire for the past — is another powerful emotion that brings us back to the same content time and time again.
For Jothika, 15, it is a sentimental pull that often influences what she chooses to watch.
“There’s a lot of Indian movies that I would watch when I was younger,” the Adelaide high school student says.
“Rewatching them, it’s not only nostalgic and comforting … it just makes me feel really happy.”
Jothika says nostalgia draws her back to old favourites. (BTN High: Sam Mckenzie)
Ms Braunstein says comfort viewing is a response to what is going on in the world around us.
A 2024 study from online mental health service ReachOut found three in four Australians aged 16 to 25 said they felt worried about the future, and consuming media was a way to cope.
“There’s a lot of really negative things going on in the world at the moment and I can appreciate that sometimes you don’t want to hear any more about all that negativity,” Ms Braunstein says.
“[Comfort viewing] can give you a sense of a world where positive things happen and good things turn out for you.”
Lilly experienced this when “Barbenheimier” hit the big screen in 2023.
Barbie featured Ryan Gosling and Margot Robbie. (Supplied: Warner Bros)
“Everyone was saying about how great of a movie [Oppenheimer] was because it was very political and it answered a lot of questions that people had,” she says.
“But I was definitely on the Barbie train.
“I think you learn so much in a day at school or through consuming social media, so I think you want to watch movies to find that safe and comforting space.”
‘Safe’ options
Dr Lyons says avoiding risk also comes into this, alongside “decision fatigue” — being too mentally drained to make a decision.
“Going back to maybe The Simpsons or The X-Files or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, it’s safe,” Dr Lyons says.
“It’s familiar, it’s not threatening … as opposed to taking the risk of, maybe, spending an hour watching something that may not be as interesting as you hoped.”
This fear of the unknown is often something Jothika finds herself grappling with.
“For a show that I’ve already watched, it’s like, ‘Oh, I know what’s happening. I don’t need to stress about it.'”
Siobhan Lyons says comfort viewing is best done in moderation. (Supplied)
‘Dark side’ of comfort viewing
Dr Lyons does warn, however, that too much of a good thing can become a bad thing, not only for our brains but also for the TV and film industry.
“If you spend too much time comfort viewing, then of course your brain isn’t going to get into the practice of delving into new material,” Dr Lyons says.
“This is kind of the problem I have with a lot of sequels and reboots today.
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“[Reboots] kind of show the dark side of comfort viewing.
“Rather than creating new movies, new characters, new worlds for today’s generation to feel nostalgia about in another 20 years, we’re kind of just revisiting these [same] worlds over and over again.”
Much like food
Daniel, 15, does find himself skipping through certain parts of movies if he has rewatched them too many times.
“You get bored of it and then you get to the point where you’re not thinking,” he says.
Daniel sees people’s appetites for media as similar to food and believes many of us will tend to return to what satisfies our cravings for comfort.
“People, they like the same food, and they know it tastes good,” Daniel says.
“Some people aren’t interested in trying new foods; it’s going out of their boundaries.
“People just like watching and eating the same old things that they like.”
However, Daniel also understands just how satisfying familiar tastes can be.
“[Rewatching] soothes my mind. It makes me calm down.”
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