The Rise of Comfort Media: Why We Keep Returning to Old Favorites

There’s a moment when you're scrolling through endless streaming menus, surrounded by buzzy new releases and artfully crafted originals, and you end up… watching Friends again. Or Harry Potter. Or maybe it’s The Sopranos, Gilmore Girls, or Parks and Rec. If you’ve found yourself reaching for an old favorite instead of something new, you’re not alone—and you’re not “just being lazy.”

What we’re witnessing is something deeper: the rise (and staying power) of comfort media—a quietly growing movement that’s changing how we engage with entertainment, storytelling, and even our own emotional regulation.

So, what exactly is comfort media? Why is it so sticky? And how does it reflect broader shifts in our cultural and mental landscape?

The Comfort Media Phenomenon: It’s Not Just Nostalgia

While nostalgia plays a role, comfort media goes beyond just longing for the past. It taps into emotional safety, familiarity, and predictability—things we crave when life feels chaotic or uncertain. Rewatching or rereading content we already know the ending to can provide psychological relief that’s grounded in neuroscience.

And while it may seem like a modern phenomenon, humans have always relied on storytelling patterns—oral traditions, religious texts, bedtime stories—that provide consistency. The digital age just gave it a name and a platform.

The Brain Science Behind the Rewatch

Why do our brains light up when we already know what’s going to happen?

It boils down to predictability. In an age of breaking news, economic flux, and 24/7 notifications, our cognitive load is high. Comfort media reduces decision fatigue. It allows our brains to relax because we already know the emotional roadmap.

Psychologist Pamela Rutledge explains it like this: “Stories allow us to understand our place in the world, create and change our identities, and define and teach social values.”

Here’s what happens neurologically:

• Dopamine spikes during comforting or pleasurable experiences.
• Oxytocin—the bonding hormone—can increase when we feel emotionally connected to familiar characters.
• Reduced cortisol levels allow the body to shift into a rest-and-digest state, especially after emotionally taxing days.

That’s right: your 4th rewatch of The Great British Bake Off could actually be helping you chill out on a cellular level.

Who’s Leading This Movement? Spoiler: It’s Not Just Millennials

Yes, Millennials are often the poster children for comfort culture. After all, they came of age during a period of rapid change—9/11, the Great Recession, student loan crises, and a tech revolution. So turning back to media from “simpler” times tracks.

But comfort media spans generations:

• Gen Z has embraced early 2000s content (New Girl, Twilight, early YouTube culture) as “vintage cool.”
• Gen Xers are reviving their own favorites (Cheers, Frasier, Seinfeld) on streaming services.
• Even Boomers report higher rewatching habits post-2020, often turning to classic films or procedural dramas like Columbo.

Streaming analytics from platforms like Netflix and Max confirm this shift. In 2023, over 67% of all minutes streamed in the U.S. were for content that was at least three years old.

Not Just TV: The Multi-Media Comfort Ecosystem

Comfort media isn’t confined to just television and film. It stretches across:

• Books: People are returning to childhood reads or YA fiction that’s emotionally lighter.
• Music: Familiar albums and throwback playlists spike during uncertain times. Spotify’s “On Repeat” and “Your Time Capsule” playlists exist for this very reason.
• Podcasts: Slow-paced, conversation-heavy podcasts (On Being, The Daily Stoic, Nothing Much Happens) see listener surges during peak stress seasons.
• Video Games: Cozy gaming genres like farming sims (Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing) and nostalgic reboots (Pokémon Legends, Zelda) have boomed post-2020.

This cross-media comfort-seeking behavior reflects not just a love of specific stories—but a widespread desire to experience familiar modes of storytelling. We crave rhythm, resolution, and emotional pacing we already trust.

When Rewatching Becomes a Ritual

Here’s the interesting part: comfort media isn't always passive.

In fact, many fans create rituals around it:

• Watching the same episode of Friends while cooking dinner.
• Playing a favorite lo-fi playlist while journaling.
• Listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks every night before bed (guilty).
• Saving a holiday rewatch of Love Actually or Die Hard like a sacred tradition.

Simple rituals can serve as mental anchors, gently telling your brain, “you’re safe now.” Stepping away from work to do something enjoyable not only recharges your energy but can also improve focus and help protect against burnout. According to a 2016 review, spending time on leisure activities—like watching movies—can improve emotional well-being and lessen symptoms of depression.

It’s Not Lazy—It’s Self-Aware Entertainment

Choosing comfort media is not a cop-out. It’s self-aware.

It’s saying:

• “I know what I need right now, and I’m going to give myself that.”
• “I don’t have to perform my media habits for anyone.”
• “Rewatching the same thing doesn’t mean I’m stuck—it means I know what works.”

In a time of algorithmic overload and constant content churn, choosing the familiar can be a radical act of self-care. It’s one of the few ways we can exert control over our emotional bandwidth.

Review Roundup

• Familiar stories soothe the brain by lowering cortisol and triggering reward responses.
• It’s not about avoiding new content—it’s about balancing cognitive load.
• Comfort media can improve sleep, reduce anxiety, and increase emotional regulation.
• Ritualizing media use (re-listening, rewatching, replaying) provides structure, especially during chaotic life seasons.
• It’s not lazy to revisit old favorites. It’s emotionally intelligent—and supported by neuroscience.

Curated Comfort is the New Cool

The rise of comfort media isn't a fluke or a phase—it’s a legitimate response to a world that often feels too fast, too loud, and too unpredictable.

And here’s the kicker: our definition of “comfort” is deeply personal. For one person, it might be The West Wing. For another, it’s reruns of Survivor. The secret is not in the content itself—but in what it unlocks for you.

So go ahead. Queue up the show you’ve already seen five times. Put that audiobook on loop. Pick the playlist you know by heart. You’re not missing out. You’re tuning in—to comfort, to connection, to calm.