jessa

Once I started spending less time on social media, I made time to watch documentaries again. It’s like subscribing to Reader’s Digest stories, but in a motion picture. I remember how, as a kid, I used to enjoy reading stories from the Reader’s Digest subscriptions my dad left behind before he died. Through those small magazines, I was able to travel the world and see many people in different colors.

As my go-to, I usually watch 60 Minutes documentaries or the Reporter’s Notebook (Philippines) on YouTube.

Every time I finish watching an episode, I feel enriched, with space to mull over what I just watched. The experience always feels fuller. Watching hundreds of shorts in a day never gives me room to think—just consume, consume, consume. Watching shorts never gives me that pause that broadens the mind; it only numbs my sense of self and physical awareness. And then. . . What? Is it five already?

The latest documentary I watched was on Vietnam’s Son Doong cave which you can watch here:

The documentary made me feel like that kid again—nose in a magazine, quietly somewhere else in the world.