Emily In Paris Is Terrible. Why Can’t We Turn It Off?

by Sofia Brontvein

Emily In Paris Is Terrible. Why Can’t We Turn It Off?

22 Dec 2025

I don’t even like Emily in Paris. I find it offensively unrealistic, stylistically aggressive, intellectually empty, and emotionally hollow. The plot is thinner than Emily’s understanding of French culture, the characters behave like AI-generated mood boards, and every episode feels like a luxury brand ad pretending to be a storyline.

And yet — I watched the new season.

Not in the background. Not ironically. Not just one episode. I watched it properly. On purpose. With snacks. Sometimes even thinking, okay, one more and then I will stop — a phrase I normally associate with endurance sports, not Netflix.

Which brings us to the uncomfortable question:

Why do smart, tired, ambitious adults keep watching shows they openly consider stupid?

The answer has very little to do with taste — and almost everything to do with your brain.

Source: imdb.com

Your brain isn't looking for meaning. It is looking for relief

After a long day of decision-making, problem-solving, emotional regulation, and pretending to be a functional human being, your brain is exhausted. Not physically — cognitively.

Neuroscience calls this decision fatigue. By evening, the prefrontal cortex — the part responsible for logic, restraint, and “good choices” — is running low on glucose and dopamine. In simple terms: it’s tired of being in charge.

This is when the brain starts craving content that is:

Predictable
Emotionally low-risk
Visually stimulating
Cognitively undemanding

Enter: Emily in Paris.

No moral dilemmas. No ambiguity. No complex character arcs. Every problem resolves itself within 28 minutes, preferably over a croissant and a Chanel bag. Your nervous system doesn’t have to work. It just floats.

Research from the University of Michigan shows that passive entertainment reduces cognitive load, allowing the brain to temporarily exit problem-solving mode. This isn’t laziness — it is self-preservation.

Familiarity is the real addiction

Another key mechanism here is predictive processing. The brain loves patterns. Familiar narratives require less energy because the brain already knows what is going to happen.

You don’t watch Emily in Paris to be surprised. You watch it to be reassured that nothing truly bad will happen. That Emily will remain thin, optimistic, and inexplicably successful. That Paris will stay pretty. That consequences are optional.

Neuroimaging studies show that familiar content activates the default mode network, associated with mind-wandering and mental rest. This is the same network active during light meditation.

Yes. Watching trash TV can neurologically resemble resting.

Which explains why you keep clicking “next episode” even while judging yourself for it.

Source: imdb.com

Low-stakes drama soothes an overstimulated nervous system

We live in a constant state of background stress: news cycles, social media, performance metrics, productivity culture, optimization everywhere. Even wellness has become competitive.

High-quality TV — the kind that wins awards — often demands emotional engagement, moral judgment, empathy, and reflection. That is great. But it is also work.

Emily in Paris doesn’t ask you to feel deeply. It asks you to observe lightly.

Psychologists call this affective down-regulation: content that lowers emotional intensity instead of amplifying it. Bright colours, shallow conflicts, exaggerated aesthetics — all of it signals safety.

Your nervous system recognises this immediately. That is why you reach for it when you are overstimulated, lonely, or just done.

Does it actually make us stupider?

Short answer: no. Long answer: also no — but context matters.

There is no scientific evidence that watching “stupid” TV lowers intelligence. Cognitive decline is associated with chronic under-stimulation, not temporary mental rest.

In fact, studies in cognitive psychology suggest that mental downtime improves creativity, memory consolidation, and emotional regulation — as long as it isn't your only form of engagement.

The problem isn’t Emily in Paris. The problem is only Emily in Paris.

When low-effort content replaces:

Reading
Meaningful conversations
Physical movement
Challenging ideas

Then yes — your mental world shrinks.

But as a conscious decompression tool? It is neutral. Sometimes even helpful.

Why the guilt, then?

Because culturally, we have moralised productivity.

We treat rest as something that must be earned, optimised, or justified. If you aren't learning, improving, or “getting inspired,” you are wasting time. Trash TV becomes a moral failure instead of what it actually is: a nervous system reset.

Ironically, guilt itself activates the stress response — undoing the very relief the show provided.

So you aren't relaxing and you are anxious about relaxing. A terrible deal.

Source: imdb.com

The real question isn't “Why do I watch this?”

It is “What do I need right now?”

Sometimes the answer is stimulation. Sometimes silence. Sometimes movement. Sometimes depth. And sometimes, honestly, it is a shallow, glossy, consequence-free fantasy where nobody ever checks email or worries about inflation.

Your brain isn’t stupid. It is tired.

And Emily in Paris isn't a cultural failure — it is a symptom of collective exhaustion.

You don’t need to stop watching it.

You just need to stop pretending it is something it isn't.

It isn't art.

It isn't growth.

It isn't identity.

It is rest. In a very specific, very modern form.

And once you understand that, you can enjoy it — or turn it off — without shame.

Which, frankly, might be the smartest thing of all.

by Sofia Brontvein