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wavesagainstrocksHi everyone! I feel like being curious today. If there was a way these questions could reach more of an audience I'd definitely wanna ask there too! But for now I'll stick with my own journal :)
Those that actively engage with media or fandom (or both!) in your day-to-day life, do you find it hard to be into multiple things at once? Or can you easily switch between interests? Say, you can equally balance your attention between two or more shows? Please elaborate in the comments if you can!
Same goes for those on the flip-side. Do you feel like you can only be into one or very few things at one time? Do you have to let the one "main" obsession run its course for you to be able to move onto something else? Comment your thoughts!
I hope this makes sense, haha! I've just been thinkin' a lot about this lately and wanted to hear other perspectives! Thanks ^v^
Those that actively engage with media or fandom (or both!) in your day-to-day life, do you find it hard to be into multiple things at once? Or can you easily switch between interests? Say, you can equally balance your attention between two or more shows? Please elaborate in the comments if you can!
Same goes for those on the flip-side. Do you feel like you can only be into one or very few things at one time? Do you have to let the one "main" obsession run its course for you to be able to move onto something else? Comment your thoughts!
I hope this makes sense, haha! I've just been thinkin' a lot about this lately and wanted to hear other perspectives! Thanks ^v^
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Date: April 13th, 2026 11:35 pm (UTC)I divide my time between thinking about video games/talking about them and thinking about crafts/talking about them (what, don't tell me yarncraft isn't a fandom! IT TOTALLY IS!) I switch between the two rather easily, probably because they likely activate different parts of my brain.
With the yarn crafts, I'm being creative OR I'm actively helping others by sharing my knowledge. Video games are more... relaxation, I think? It's hard to describe.
I do sometimes feel I am too narrow-minded in my fandoms, because except for yarncrafts and Final Fantasy, I don't really venture out of those areas? I keep saying I'm going to play more single-player games on my own, but it's so EASY to default to FFXI or FFXIV or replay a comforting game. Earlier this year I was playing Epistory (Typing adventures!) which I was enjoying, and I don't think I have much more left so I should probably finish that. I also played about two hours of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and immediately was interested... but the activation energy to do something new to me is hard to find. So easy to just... not do it.
Barbara Sher (a self-help book writer who I really liked... RIP Barbara) writes about this thing called Scanners and Divers. Scanners are those that flit from subject to subject. Divers are those that choose a subject and dive into it, learning all they can about it. I used to believe I was a scanner, but with the way my hobbies go, I wonder if I'm not actually a diver. It's interesting to think about!
If you want, I can boost this post in my journal to see if you can get more answers. Let me know if you'd like that.
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Date: April 14th, 2026 09:14 pm (UTC)With the yarn crafts, I'm being creative OR I'm actively helping others by sharing my knowledge. Video games are more... relaxation, I think? It's hard to describe.
That makes perfect sense! I totally get that!! (Also yarncraft is absolutely a fandom ;P) Perhaps it's also the... "way" those things are consumed that makes it different? With video-games, you're consuming something already made by others in a very specific way with a clear objective in mind. The story and tools are already laid out for you so all you have to do is go with the flow of the game! But for crafting, you're actively creating/doing something and needing to use its "instructions" to make something that wouldn't otherwise exist? Gosh, I don't know if I'm making sense, haha!
I do sometimes feel I am too narrow-minded in my fandoms, because except for yarncrafts and Final Fantasy, I don't really venture out of those areas? I keep saying I'm going to play more single-player games on my own, but it's so EASY to default to FFXI or FFXIV or replay a comforting game. Earlier this year I was playing Epistory (Typing adventures!) which I was enjoying, and I don't think I have much more left so I should probably finish that. I also played about two hours of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 and immediately was interested... but the activation energy to do something new to me is hard to find. So easy to just... not do it.
You took the words right out of my mouth! This is exactly how I feel too!! I know there's so many awesome and great fandoms, shows, books, etc. out there that I'd enjoy, and I want to learn about them but I feel "stuck" because I feel like I can always squeeze something more out of the things I'm already into. If we're enjoying ourselves I don't necessarily think that makes it a bad thing, but I do feel like I'm missing out!
Barbara Sher (a self-help book writer who I really liked... RIP Barbara) writes about this thing called Scanners and Divers. Scanners are those that flit from subject to subject. Divers are those that choose a subject and dive into it, learning all they can about it. I used to believe I was a scanner, but with the way my hobbies go, I wonder if I'm not actually a diver. It's interesting to think about!
Wow, that's amazing! Really good terms for that... I totally gotta check them out!! I'd say I'm definitely a diver, or somewhere on that scale as well XD Who wouldn't want to learn everything there is about the thing they like?!
If you want, I can boost this post in my journal to see if you can get more answers. Let me know if you'd like that.
I'd love that, heck yeah! Thank you so much!! :D And thanks for replying!!!
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Date: April 13th, 2026 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: April 14th, 2026 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: April 14th, 2026 12:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: April 14th, 2026 09:21 pm (UTC)Do you ever find the influx of knowledge overwhelming? As in, all the lore you know for your respective fandoms, do you find it hard to remember all of it? Does your love for each one wax and wane?
Thanks for commenting! :D
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Date: April 14th, 2026 10:18 pm (UTC)No, not really. I've always been good at compartmentalizing knowledge related to multiple fandoms. I suspect part of it is that I was a history major in school and was always a big history buff even before college, so I'm used to memorizing lots of tiny details about various civilizations throughout history, which is kinda similar to being in multiple fandoms in a lot of ways.
Does your love for each one wax and wane?
Oh, definitely. There are some fandoms that tend to stick with me, but there are others where I may not have really thought of them in ages. If something puts them back on my radar, though, I'll often jump back into them as if no time has passed since the last time I was involved in the fandom - especially if it's a closed one where there hasn't been any new canon since the last time I was active in it.
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Date: April 14th, 2026 03:47 am (UTC)I write in different fandoms, consume media from different things, and I'll see a random post on tumblr and then be happy to watch a fanvid or read meta on a fandom that I haven't paid attention to in years. I definitely sometimes have more interest/energy getting poured into a fandom, especially if it's really active but that's way more rare for me.
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Date: April 14th, 2026 09:25 pm (UTC)This is such a beautiful way of putting it! Yesyesyes!! At the end of the day, all the things we're into are part of us in one way or another. I think my brain just has a problem with being able to divide that attention equally... Like it knows it likes [insert media I've loved since I was a kid] but if my attention is on something else in the moment, it doesn't give a damn about that old fandom! It's a lil' frustrating to be honest, haha!
Thanks for commenting! :D
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Date: April 14th, 2026 06:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: April 14th, 2026 09:28 pm (UTC)I can totally see that for sure! Do you feel any FOMO when you think about the fandoms you haven't interacted with in a minute? I myself know I can be a little... dramatic when it comes to things like that. But I start feeling guilty if I feel "moved on" from a piece of media that I liked even if I know I still like it and it means a lot to me!
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Date: April 15th, 2026 12:16 am (UTC)One reason I loved doing Yuletide for years was that it let me pick up several of those little darlings, to either write or read.
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Date: April 16th, 2026 03:48 pm (UTC)That makes total sense! I absolutely feel that!! Would you say you've had several 'ONE attention consuming fandom' (anywhere around 10+) over the years? Or have those 'ONE attention consuming fandom'(s) been pretty limited (like around 2-4 you cycle through)? :0 Not including the little in-betweeners!
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Date: April 16th, 2026 03:56 pm (UTC)Thoughts
Date: April 15th, 2026 05:00 am (UTC)No. We typically watch one episode of a TV show over supper. I enjoy reading fanfic. I also read books. I write, mostly original but sometimes fanfic. And it's rare for even two of those to overlap at the same time, unless I'm loving a thing so much that I want to go write about it. Like for my birthday, we got 12 Rivers. It was a really interesting game so I reviewed it.
Plus of course, there's a long list of canons I love. If one really pisses me off, I may abandon it and become an ex-fan, but that too is relatively rare. So I've got a big pile of things to enjoy. I'm polyfanamous. :D
It is equally okay to love many things, have only one fannish passion, or move sequentially through fandoms with one huge favorite at a time. Do what feels good to you.
Re: Thoughts
Date: April 16th, 2026 03:55 pm (UTC)That's interesting! Is the 'one episode of something during dinner' a self-imposed rule for a specific reason? :0 Maybe to not overwhelm yourself or to finish the show too fast? Have you ever found yourself being into something so much you find it "consumes you"?
Plus of course, there's a long list of canons I love. If one really pisses me off, I may abandon it and become an ex-fan, but that too is relatively rare. So I've got a big pile of things to enjoy. I'm polyfanamous. :D
I LOVE that phrasing, haha! Adding that into my lexicon immediately.
It is equally okay to love many things, have only one fannish passion, or move sequentially through fandoms with one huge favorite at a time. Do what feels good to you.
Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! I try hard to take this into account, but sometimes the *imaginary guilt* catches up to me and is like!! Damn, I'm missing out on lots of good things because my default is to only be able to handle one fandom at a time!
Re: Thoughts
Date: April 16th, 2026 09:36 pm (UTC)My partner likes to watch TV over supper. Other than that, I have too much to do. Writing, yardwork -- things I enjoy that produce useful outcomes.
>> Have you ever found yourself being into something so much you find it "consumes you"? <<
Not to the exclusion of everything else. I can lose myself in writing for hours, but nature still beckons me outside. I wear myself out yardening, then flop in front of my computer.
>>I'm polyfanamous. :D
I LOVE that phrasing, haha! Adding that into my lexicon immediately.<<
*bow, flourish* Happy to be of service!
>>sometimes the *imaginary guilt* catches up to me and is like!! Damn, I'm missing out on lots of good things because my default is to only be able to handle one fandom at a time!<<
Bear in mind there is always a tradeoff between breadth and depth. A generalist knows many things, a specialist knows one narrow subject extremely well. Focusing on one thing deeply for a while doubtless gives you more familiarity with it compared to someone who rambles across many canons.
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Date: April 15th, 2026 09:40 am (UTC)For media, it's quite dependent on the format, release schedule, etc.. I can easily switch between and multitask categories like games, reading, etc., but often struggle within those categories.
I'm horrible at keeping up with playing more than 2 games at once, and currently both of those slots are already taken by daily games so I'm very slow to play new things. If I do pick up a new game despite the lack of space, I tend to obsessively play it before I lose momentum/energy.
I'm hopeless with shows, whether binging or watching along with a release schedule, so it's a gamble.
Novels and comics are separated by how much of the work has already been released. Something that is finished is pretty likely to get binged (so 1 at a time), but if it's still releasing new chapters, I can keep up with a metric ton of different things as long as they continue to be interesting.
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Date: April 16th, 2026 04:05 pm (UTC)For media, it's quite dependent on the format, release schedule, etc.. I can easily switch between and multitask categories like games, reading, etc., but often struggle within those categories.
Oh, this is really interesting! I tend to bundle fandom & media into one collective thing myself. So whatever media I'm into at the time is also the fandom I'm into! Do you find you actively choose to dedicate time/energy into that 1 main fandom? Or does it come naturally? :0
I'm horrible at keeping up with playing more than 2 games at once, and currently both of those slots are already taken by daily games so I'm very slow to play new things. If I do pick up a new game despite the lack of space, I tend to obsessively play it before I lose momentum/energy.
I'm hopeless with shows, whether binging or watching along with a release schedule, so it's a gamble.
Gosh, I felt this so much! I think the prospect of needing to process a bunch of new information is a tad overwhelming... You gotta prepare the brain for it! Watching new shows is the worst for me. The second I feel pressured to watch it, I'm out XD
Novels and comics are separated by how much of the work has already been released. Something that is finished is pretty likely to get binged (so 1 at a time), but if it's still releasing new chapters, I can keep up with a metric ton of different things as long as they continue to be interesting.
That makes perfect sense! Anything that's read I think I find easier to consume because you can kinda go at your own pace with it? You can only read as fast as you can read, y'know?
Thanks so much for commenting! :D
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Date: April 17th, 2026 01:00 pm (UTC)I'd say it tends to be more natural in a way? Like, I find it pretty easy to forget or not actively think about any specific media, so I typically only get strongly invested if there's already a decently-sized fandom ecosystem to keep me consistently engaged.
IKR! I think the only show I've watched through my own willpower in the past couple of years was Apothecary Diaries because it sounded like it was made for me specifically lmaooo
Precisely!!! Controlling the pace is pretty important to me, to the point where I tend to watch most videos on a higher playback speed. It's kinda hard to properly immerse in a show or show-style video at double speed, but funnily it's like 50% because music at double speed is an inherently comedic/weird experience, which clashes with a lot of the media that is trying to tell a story.
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Date: April 15th, 2026 10:19 pm (UTC)Anyway, I'm very multifannish, as in I can be fannish about many things at once. However I do have like 2-3 "active" fandoms at a time. Why the quotation marks? Because most of the things I'm fannish about don't ever go inactive. Or at least not in the sense of "I no longer like this" and more in the "I'm taking a breather from this" (with the big exception of HP, which I was fannish about during my teenage years but 10 years ago I vowed to not engage with it anymore and I stuck to that)
Sometimes the fandoms I have in the front burner are fandoms I feel very intensely about but most of the time it's because they've become recent additions to the roster. Or recent-ish.
And the way I'm active in a fandom differs from fandom to fandom. For example at the moment of writing this I'm going THROUGH it with Heated Rivalry (writing, watching, reading, sharing art, sharing meta, reccing, gifmakinging) while a fandom like All for the Game is a fandom where I engage the most through reading and commenting. Then there's League of Legends a fandom where I mainly engage through playing and writing but I stay on the outskirts of everything else and I barely read fic about it. Or Teen Wolf, one of my long-time fandoms, where I'm active on discord servers and sharing art and reading and writing fics with some periods of a lessening of the intensity but I always return to it. Or Sense8 that keeps going from "single thing I think about for days, sometimes weeks" to "existing in the back burner for months" but I'll rewatch a random episode whenever I want to feel at home.
If you ask me how I balance my attention, I'll have to admit that I don't know. I have ADHD so that might be part of it idk.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful or insightful for how I personally engage with fandom.
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Date: April 16th, 2026 04:17 pm (UTC)Anyway, I'm very multifannish, as in I can be fannish about many things at once. However I do have like 2-3 "active" fandoms at a time. Why the quotation marks? Because most of the things I'm fannish about don't ever go inactive. Or at least not in the sense of "I no longer like this" and more in the "I'm taking a breather from this"
Sometimes the fandoms I have in the front burner are fandoms I feel very intensely about but most of the time it's because they've become recent additions to the roster. Or recent-ish.
And the way I'm active in a fandom differs from fandom to fandom.
I absolutely get this, yeah! I think that's where I start to get all jumbled myself... 'cause I could've been insanely active in one fandom (like how you mentioned with Heated Rivalry) in the past, but if there's something "new" that ends up becoming my current main obsession I feel like I tossed all that past work into the trash! TwT
Do you have a sort of... "scale" (?) your fandoms are on for how much you like them? Does your activity (be it current or past) determine how much you love(d) a fandom? :0 (I have no idea if that makes sense...) Or is the activity not a factor?
If you ask me how I balance my attention, I'll have to admit that I don't know. I have ADHD so that might be part of it idk.
Anyway, I hope this was helpful or insightful for how I personally engage with fandom.
This was super helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment, I really appreciate it!! :D
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Date: April 17th, 2026 03:39 am (UTC)I have to admit I've felt this way before, but I'm also insanely proud of everything I've ever made for fandoms. Specially what I've written (I write 100% in English and this is not even my first language lol) holds a very special place in my heart. For example, one of my, dare I say, best fics I've written is for 9-1-1, a fandom that I felt very active in until last year but that has moved into the very back of my mind in the few months. I sort of... lost interest after something happened in Season 8 that made my flame for the fandom turn all the way down. I still love what I wrote for that fandom and all the gifsets I made. And I don't consider all the time I spent reading buddie fanfic as lost time (I read some absolute GEMS that I will never forget)
>>Do you have a sort of... "scale" (?) your fandoms are on for how much you like them?
Perhaps in a way it's like a spectrum more than a scale with neat divisions. And things move around in the spectrum all the time!
>>Does your activity (be it current or past) determine how much you love(d) a fandom?
I don't think so? I mean, I consider myself still in the Merlin fandom even if sort of tangentially because I wrote some stuff for them, but other than that I was not that involved with fandom beyond a really good (if few) fics I read. And I KNOW I love the source material and I loved the writers I engaged with in my time there.
Just like I at one point engaged with the HP fandom, but now that entire franchise is dead to me and I will never engage with the source material again. I no longer love it even if I did many of the typical HP fan stuff (like going to platform 9 3/4 or going to screening events and shit). Like it honestly stopped bringing me any kind of joy.
So I don't think the level of activity in a fandom determines the love you have for that fandom space or the source material, specially because I know of a lot of people that because of time constraints do not engage with fandom much but who are extremely fannish when they do engage.
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Date: April 17th, 2026 04:11 pm (UTC)That's so lovely AW! It's always so nice to think/look back on things we may have made or done for fandoms in the past. You wouldn't know all that you do now if you hadn't written that fic, or watched that episode! I'm glad you can look back at all that so fondly, even if the show ended up going in a direction you didn't hope for!!
So I don't think the level of activity in a fandom determines the love you have for that fandom space or the source material, specially because I know of a lot of people that because of time constraints do not engage with fandom much but who are extremely fannish when they do engage.
That's very true! I honestly didn't think of it that way... perhaps I gotta give myself some more grace when it comes to that XD
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Date: April 16th, 2026 04:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: April 17th, 2026 04:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: April 26th, 2026 11:40 am (UTC)no subject
Date: April 19th, 2026 09:50 am (UTC)Fandom wise, I've always been multifannish. I have what I call my home fandoms, no matter how old I will always return to them and be easily reminded of them. Either by wanting to experience the canon again, reread my favorite fics, engage in a drabble off with a friend, or simply have a four hour video chat about it on Discord lol. Meanwhile I'll be actively playing another game, reading another book, and following another series at the same time. That's been the norm for my past... 20+ years?
I've definitely had my phases of one fandom taking the majority of my attention but even then, I love to put those characters in aus where they meet my other favorite characters. I've always loved crossover aus and fusion aus, reimagining how characters would live beside canon characters and so on. I love to "yes, and" myself *g* These days I create with myself in mind, so it's very audience of one unless I feel a strong need to post on AO3.
When it comes to hobbies I do have an active limit: I can have about three going at the same time. And if work/life is really heavy, it gets shortened to two. I love to cook and can practically do it in my sleep but I'll have periods of wanting to make new recipes or make elaborate dinners for fun, where it becomes a creative outlet. Reading. Gaming. Visual art. Writing. Photography. Stationery. Etc. Right now I'm replaying Fire Emblem: Three Houses (which ties into the long term PSL I'm writing with a friend), picking up a new book: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan, and sending out a lot of snail mail (postcards, letters, happy mail.)
Summer is a significant break from work for me, so I may get to enjoy a fourth active hobby at the same time lol. In this case, I'm hoping to pick up my strengthening and conditioning program which has the added bonus of getting me to explore new music while I workout.
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Date: April 23rd, 2026 04:39 pm (UTC)Fandom wise, I've always been multifannish. I have what I call my home fandoms, no matter how old I will always return to them and be easily reminded of them.
Ohhh, that is such a good phrase for it! I love that!! Do you consider your home fandoms to mostly consist of fandoms you've been into the longest? Like maybe a piece of media you got into as a kid? Can a "newer" piece become a home fandom of yours? What's your criteria! :0
I've definitely had my phases of one fandom taking the majority of my attention but even then, I love to put those characters in aus where they meet my other favorite characters. I've always loved crossover aus and fusion aus, reimagining how characters would live beside canon characters and so on. I love to "yes, and" myself *g* These days I create with myself in mind, so it's very audience of one unless I feel a strong need to post on AO3.
That's the best thing you can do for yourself I'd say! Experiencing fandom through others is definitely fun, but sometimes it can get overwhelming... and at the end of the day, you gotta do what makes YOU happy!!
When it comes to hobbies I do have an active limit: I can have about three going at the same time. And if work/life is really heavy, it gets shortened to two. I love to cook and can practically do it in my sleep but I'll have periods of wanting to make new recipes or make elaborate dinners for fun, where it becomes a creative outlet. Reading. Gaming. Visual art. Writing. Photography. Stationery. Etc. Right now I'm replaying Fire Emblem: Three Houses (which ties into the long term PSL I'm writing with a friend), picking up a new book: The Red Winter by Cameron Sullivan, and sending out a lot of snail mail (postcards, letters, happy mail.)
Summer is a significant break from work for me, so I may get to enjoy a fourth active hobby at the same time lol. In this case, I'm hoping to pick up my strengthening and conditioning program which has the added bonus of getting me to explore new music while I workout.
This is really interesting! Is that a self-imposed limit or is it just something you find happens naturally? Are there any hobbies you've had the longest and find yourself pretty consistently going back to?
How easy would you say is it for you to be engaged with a home fandom/hobby and pick up something new? Is there any hesitance on getting into new things or is it a struggle? :0
I hope you're able to start your program! That sounds like so much fun!! Thank you again for commenting, I'm loving all this info!!! <3
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Date: April 30th, 2026 08:57 am (UTC)