Believe it or not, binging and purging is a healthy and safe way to achieve some of the most common New Year’s resolutions (I’m not talking about weight loss!).

Americans tend to suffer from a different gluttony: media consumption. On-demand entertainment, information, and whatever reality TV is have created the greatest time-suck in the history of civilization.

Not only are we able to watch almost any TV show or movie on demand, but we also have ubiquitous media access on our computers, phones and tablets.

Humans need entertainment. And binging on a great series for a couple of days is an excellent escape from cares. However, the time spent on media can quickly get out of control—losing time and productivity—and can quickly lead to chronic subscription fatigue.

People become vulnerable to this condition when they succumb to the barrage of advertisements and buzz over new video or music services offering exclusive access to popular programming.

Endless Subscriptions

Most recently, Disney moved most of its catalog to an exclusive service called Disney+. Before that, CBS started a subscription service which is now the only way to access the latest Star Trek series. NBC also announced that it would be releasing a new subscription service that will be the only place viewers will be able to see Seinfeld reruns.

If you prefer to watch live television, you can leave cable and subscribe to Sling, Hulu + Live TV, YouTubeTV, and a handful of other services that provide access to the most popular cable networks. But that will cost you almost as much as a cable subscription.

If you like music, you can subscribe to Apple Music, Pandora, Spotify or satellite radio.

For classic movie lovers, there’s a subscription to the Criterion Channel.

Amazon also has a video and music service that’s included in a Prime subscription. If you can’t find a good movie to watch on Amazon Prime Video, you can also rent a movie to watch on Prime, Vudu, or AppleTV, etc.

Video game enthusiasts can get the most out of their devices by subscribing to a monthly membership which enhances their gaming experience. But, if a player wants access to everything the gaming system can do, he or she will need to shell out more money for a premium membership. There are even Netflix-like video game services that allow players to play any game they want for a monthly fee (not included in any of the other memberships).

And that only covers leisure and entertainment. If a person loves news, access to athletic facilities and a cellphone, the subscriptions can quickly compound.

My tech tip for 2020: binge and purge.