There are a few things you can count on every spring: baseball, barbecues, a Drake album, and people telling you something about how you should do some spring cleaning. It's generally a good idea. Cleaning up can do a lot to make you feel more productive and cheer you up some, and it's a good way to welcome the wider world back into your life after a long winter hibernation—given, of course, that you live somewhere that has a winter. But let me make a case for another kind of spring cleaning: one for your Netflix queue, that pile of books you've been meaning to get to, or those video games still in the shrink wrap.

Almost all cleaning is a solution to the same problem: too much stuff. Accumulate stuff, and that stuff is bound to get out of hand, thanks to, like, entropy and shit. Because of the internet and Netflix and all manner of smart, connected devices and apps, there is so much stuff to entertain ourselves with. Way too much. Getting to it all can feel like a chore, and well, that kind of defeats the purpose of entertainment, doesn't it?

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So let me—someone whose job it is to consume an unhealthy amount of entertainment—help you out with a few handy tips of tidying up your entertainment diet, a few things to help you sift through what's great and what's not, and generally come to terms with the notion that—as Linda Holmes wrote in this essential 2011 NPR essay—you're going to miss out on most things, and that's okay.

You will never be caught up with all your friends. Here is a fact of existence, one that holds true in your work life, social life, and even romantic life: Someone is going to try and bully you into watching a TV show. Before you let them, think long and hard about how big a part of your life this person is, and how much you value their happiness. Outside of a very small circle of people, the answer will probably be "not that much," and you can feel free to ignore their recommendations. This is just simple survival math. Let's say people actively watch between one and five shows at a time, and you've got maybe four people tops that you really want to actively talk shop with. There's enough TV out there that all of these people can have an entirely different lineup of shows, and none of them are ones you watch. You can't keep up with all that and still have time for what you want. Y'feel?

So make acquiescing to a friend's recommendation the lavish, special occasion that it is, and make sure they know how highly you think of them when you agree to check out something they tell you about. They will probably tell you to stop being such a diva about it. But tough noogies. Netflix isn't going to watch itself.

If it's been a month, it's time to move on. It's easy to spend a lot of time thinking you like something when... you might actually not. Ask yourself: If it's TV, how long has it been since you last dropped in on a show that you made an effort to follow, or watch all of? More than a month? You're probably better looking for something you like more.

I'm not saying that the only shows worth your time are the ones that make you immediately clamor for more, where resisting a binge becomes a test of willpower. But if you enjoy something, it ought to linger. It doesn't have to be in some profound or obsessive way that has you scouring the internet for easter eggs or drafting your own fan theories. It can be simple as, Hey, this silly sitcom makes me feel good. I want to see these people tell jokes and make ill-advised decisions again sometime soon.