Humble Beginnings - Before I was a Shadowhunter

It’s important to note that this didn’t start out as a quest to be a social media fan of anything.

Instead, my obsession with following Shadowhunters on social media started by chance.

But let me backup.

The last time I was so excited and engaged with a show or movie was back when Lord of the Rings came out before social media proliferated our lives. Did I go to midnight showings to each film? Yes. Did I see them all multiple times in the movie theater? Check yes again. So, in some ways this isn’t surprising.  

In between now and then however, a number of things happened. For starters, I moved in 2008 and one of the first things I did to save money was drop cable TV. Who needs cable when you can have Netflix and Hulu? Then I met my now husband and moved again, lengthening my commute from 10 minutes to 50. I also started a Master’s degree at the University where I work, decreasing the time I had for fun things like social media to almost nil. I finished that this past summer, but I was silly enough to take an undergrad course in the fall (for fun?!) Finally, this spring, I decided to devote more time to not stressing myself out with things like homework. What should I do with all of this free time?

I had rented the movie The Moral Instruments: City of Bones in Jan of 2016 (thanks for the history Netflix). I was interested enough in it that I wished there was more, but learned that the movie didn’t do so well. There was, however, a book series and a TV show version that was just coming out. This was all happening mid-thesis, while I was busy with a research project, gathering and analyzing data in order to write it into something coherent. I put off watching the show until later because, as I already explained, I didn’t have cable anyway. Watching it on Hulu would be easier and I could binge the whole thing in a few days rather than have to wait week to week.  I could also work it around my free time, which at that time was really rather limited.

This is incredibly significant because in setting myself up to binge watch I disconnected myself anything happening outside of the show. Instead, Shadowhunters existed in the bubble that all of the other shows I watch live. I watch them when I have time and once the episode is done I move on until I have time to watch the next one. So Season One happened at some indiscriminate time last year, and while I waited patiently for Season Two to start, I didn’t have hopes any higher than watching it at some point during the week it was aired on Hulu.

So how did that change?

I guess I have one thing to thank President Trump for.
            

             He got me to check out Twitter.