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I Watched The Oscars Without Social Media And It Was Gold

And the award for not spoiling the Oscars with social media goes to... Me.
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I don't find entertainment in entertainment. I'm impatient, with an insatiable curiosity and desire for information, and so I live my life seeking out anything that resembles a spoiler.

I've developed a terrible habit of reading books backwards -- I just love knowing what's going to happen at the end. Same for movies and TV shows... I will Google plots and reviews while I'm watching, because I just have to know.

Knowing what's coming, the opinions, the outrage, it all makes me feel alivvvvvve! Social media has become the 'voices in my head' that I'm addicted to.

For example:

Me: Is it just me or was that comment way out of line?

Social media: You're right as always, Nama, that comment was wack.

Me: That was such a beautiful moment between mother and son.

Social media: We're not crying, you are.

Me: Sheesh this guy is smart, funny and hot. I wonder if he's single?

Social media: Of course he's not. And as if you stood a chance anyway.

Today, I decided to watch without constantly checking to see who won, what they wore, and what trended on Twitter.

But sometimes, I feel a bit weary of my opinionated smartphone screen. I'm aware it's a different sort of thrill to see something unfold as it's supposed to. So, today, with my son faking an illness to stay home from school because he just can't leave me alone, we watched the Oscars together. I decided to watch without constantly checking to see who won, what they wore, and what trended on Twitter.

It was a choice that REALLY paid off.

The show was a true delight this year. Host Jimmy Kimmel really nailed his job with the right balance of comedy that was not mean-spirited. It was so refreshing to watch. And I think that had a lot to do with not already knowing what happened.

For the first time in years, I watched each award with the intended suspense, not already knowing who won it. But it was more than that. I hadn't already read a news item, or seen a post, about Kimmel's brilliant shots at Trump. Or his other pure gold moments, like his tribute to The Lion King and trolling of Matt Damon. So everything elicited the best kind of laughter -- spontaneous chuckles.

I didn't know that Auli'i Cravalho, who sang the theme song from Moana, would be hit in the head by a prop as she totally smashed out the song and blew the audience away.

The whole living in the moment thing took on a new meaning for me thanks to the Oscars.

I hadn't read anything about the "Wins and Fails of Oscar dresses". As far as I know, I'm the only person in the world who appreciated seeing The Rock in a very neatly fitting velvet tuxedo.

Half way through the show, I didn't expect Michael J. Fox to appear on the stage in a DeLorean. Unexpectedly seeing my childhood love Alex P. Keaton -- now that was good.

But the best surprise of the show happened at the end of the night, when we watched, live, La La Land mistakenly being awarded best picture. We witnessed first hand the rollercoaster of emotion as those on stage realised that Moonlight was the intended recipient. I watched my desperately ill son jump up and down screaming "They gave it to the wrong guys!"

Now that's entertainment. As it was intended.

It was definitely enough to make me re-think my self-sabotaging ways. The whole living-in-the-moment thing took on a new meaning for me thanks to the Oscars, and from now on, I'm going to put less social in my media for the ultimate viewing pleasure.

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