My guilty pleasure

POV: Why watching cringe content on the Internet is my survival strategy.

- Malika Halder

It's 10:53pm on a Tuesday, and I'm sitting on the couch, staring at my phone. Not because I'm reading a literary masterpiece or catching up on current events (don't get me wrong here; I have worked in the newsroom for years and I still love it...but at this hour, thanks, but no thanks), but because I am watching a male influencer make a parody reel of the very trending Asma doll (yes, yes, the one that claims to make anyone and everyone chitta). The dialogue delivery is painfully awkward and there is nothing cerebral about it. Yet, I CANNOT stop looking at it-my God, it's gloriously cringe.

In the next room, my five-year-old twins are sleeping peacefully (thank me for such "very British" habits). My husband has a graveyard shift and is in office. As I enjoy my very little but much-deserved "me time", I invariably find myself binge watching cringe content on Instagram-I often refer to it as a lifet raft in my sea of chaos.

Okay, I admit it: I love cringe content. There, I have said it. I call it my little escapade from the relentless cycle of deadlines, edit meets, meal preps (can someone please decide for me what to eat/feed three times a day), charting out weekend activities, and trying to keep two tiny humans healthy and happy.